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Greece under King George 



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GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



JannLa. 







LONDON : EICHAED BENTrEY AND SON : 1898. 



SzXnaJnn,. 



GREECE 



UNDER KING GEORGE 



R. A. H. BICKFORD-SMITH, M.A. 

BARRISTER- AT-LAW 
LATE STUDENT OF THE BRITISH SCHOOL AT ATHENS 




LONDON 

RICHARD BENTLEY AND ^S O N 

PaiUshas in dDriinaxj) to '^tv JtlajwtS tl« t^nnK' 

[All rights reserved] '^ 



XAPIAAJ2I TPIKOYHH 
TIMH2 ENEKA 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

POPULATION. 



General Statistics— Towns and Villages— Births and 

Deaths — Religion and Nationality i — lo 



CHAPTER 11. 

AGRICULTURE. 



General Statistics — Corn — Stock — Dairy-Farming — 
Poultry — Game — Wine — Currants — Olives — Figs — 
Other Fruit — Mulberry— Cotton — Valonia — Tobacco 
— Vegetables ii — 34 



CHAPTER HI. 

FORESTS. 

Area — Species 35 — 47 

CHAPTER IV. 

INDUSTRIES. 

Mines^Marble — Salt — Factories — ^Fishing 48 — 58 



CONTENTS 



I'AGE 



CHAPTER V. 

COMMERCE. 

Shipping — Imports and Exports 59 7^ 
CHAPTER VI. 

BUSINESS. 

Public Companies — Employment 72 — 79 
CHAPTER VII. 

INTERNAL COMMUNICATION. 

Roads — Railways — Steamboats — The Korinth Canal 
— The Euripos — Lake Kopais — Lighthouses — 
Post-office — Telegraph — Telephone — Weights and 

Measures — Coinage 80 — 102 

CHAPTER VIIL 

FINANCE 103 131 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE PUBLIC DEBT I32 142 

CHAPTER X. 

THE FORCED CURRENCY 143 157 

CHAPTER XL 

FINANCE (concluded). 

M. Beckmann's Deductions — ;The 1893 Estimates 

Municipal Finance irg 160 



CONTENTS vii 



CHAPTER XII. 

PUBLIC ORDER. 



Justice — Crime — Police — Prisons — Bankruptcy— Men- 
dicancy i6i— 174 



CHAPTER XIII. 

EDUCATION. 



Elementary — Secondary — The University — Cost — The 
Institutions subsidiary to the University — Female 
Education — Technical Instruction — Summary 175 — ic 



CHAPTER XIV. 

CULTURE. 



Books — Newspapers — Learned Societies — Fine Arts — 

Physical Culture 199 — 21: 



CHAPTER XV. 

ARCHEOLOGY 2 13 — 224 

CHAPTER XVI. 

RELIGION. 

Organization — Monasteries — Priests — Summary 225 — 239 

CHAPTER XVII. 

ARMY AND NAVY. 

Army — Distribution — Navy — Defence— Attack 240—256 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

CONSTITUTION. 



Articles of Constitution analyzed — Parliaments — Adminis- 
trations — Monarchic Democracy 25? — 274 



POLITICS 



CHAPTER XIX. 



275—284 



SOCIETY 



CHAPTER XX. 



285—294 



PHILANTHROPY 



CHAPTER XXI. 



295—3°° 



CHAPTER XXII. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

Climate — Wind — Rainfall — Earthquakes — Mountains — 

Mineral Waters — Flags — Travellers — Travelling 301— 3 1 7 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



PANHELLENISM 



318—336 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

CONCLUSION. 

As regarding Greece — As regarding England 337 — 345 



INTRODUCTION. 

If a Q.C. is sufficiently interested in a case in 
which he is not engaged to read a verbatim 
report of it, he probably pays more attention to 
the evidence than to the speeches of counsel. It 
is true that these gentlemen are present for the 
purpose of assisting the Court towards a right 
opinion, but the chief help they give consists in 
marshalling the evidence ; a great portion of their 
addresses is too highly coloured to aid in the 
right solution of the problem. At the same time, 
it not unfrequently happens that some members 
of the jury are more affected by the eloquence of 
the Bar than by the facts revealed through careful 
examination. The case of Greece has been ably 
pleaded by many writers during the last fifty 
years, and I do not presume to act as a leader. 
But the humbler task of examination- in-chief is 
not without its fascinations, or even its difficulties. 
On my way to Constantinople in March, 1890, 
my skipper- used to constantly assure me that 
before I had been a fortnight in Greece all my 

b 



INTRODUCTION 



hopes for the New Greece, and even my admira- 
tion of the Old, would have been rudely disturbed. 
On my subsequent arrival in Athens, I attempted 
to make myself daily remember this unwelcome 
prophecy. The daylight portion of the first week 
was spent almost entirely on the Akropolis, so 
that my studied impartiality was only called into 
exercise after sunset. On one of these first 
evenings I almost began to think my anti-Greek 
friend was right. I had gone to sip my after- 
dinner coffee in the Square, and had given the 
waiter a napoleon, worth at the time 24 paper- 
drachmas, and legal tender. The price of the 
coffee was a few sous. The waiter came back 
with the change, and produced on his tray 19 
drachmas and some odd coppers. I was rather 
shy of attempting an expostulation in Greek, and 
merely looked at him inquiringly. He thereupon 
added a drachma to the other nineteen. By means 
of three more separate stares, increasing in severity 
in geometric proportion, the other three drachmas 
were extracted. I mention this episode, not as 
tending to throw any doubt upon the honesty of 
the modern Greeks, to which question I shall 
refer later, but simply to show how I was brought 
towards a proper state of impartial receptivity 
with regard to the phenomena of Greek life. 

I do not for a moment deny that at first my 
mind was more full of the life-surroundings of 
^schylos and Plato, and, indeed, of Herakles 



INTRODUCTION 



and Agamemnon, than of the modern leaders of 
men ; nor was it possible that the little incident 
of the caf6 could put such bias far from me. But, 
as a personal experience, it was of some value in 
backing up my already-made determination to 
beware of sentiment. 

Most Greek travellers whom I have met have 
told me that after the first period of admiration 
and enthusiasm they had usually experienced a 
time of revulsion, generally while travelling in 
the interior, which was in turn succeeded by a 
more reasoning afterglow which was permanent. 
I cannot say that I underwent the revulsive trial 
of my faith. Perhaps it was sufficiently curbed 
by the warnings J had received and the guile of 
the waiter. 

At any rate, I made up my mind to observe 
facts, and each day I found some new items 
which seemed worthy to be added to the stock 
from which I might eventually evolve an opinion. 
I think the first thing that struck me was the 
attitude of the moderns towards the antique. I 
am not suggesting that the population at large is 
very well acquainted with the uses to which the 
different ruined buildings had been put. They 
are not ; but the sense of proprietorship is very 
strong, and the feeling of reverence very notice- 
able. No one could fail to remark the different 
tones in which his guide or a passing peasant 
would say that some old walls were Hellenic or 



INTRODUCTION 



Prankish, or the contemptuously silent shrugs 
with which he would convey the information that 
they were Turkish. The accusation that Greeks 
treat their old architectural treasures with destruc- 
tive indignity is now quite devoid of truth. 

As soon as the archaic spell was loosened 
enough to allow of my studying modern life, I 
was astonished at the amount of business of 
Athens and the ports ; at the trade done in a 
country paneguris (equivalent to a Breton pardon) ; 
at the number of caiques in the different ports. 
It was obvious that, however Eastern the Greeks 
might be in some of their customs, they were not 
at all Orientally sleepy. The absence of fixed 
prices is, of course, no proof of this ; but, taken 
in conjunction with their undoubted vitality, it 
implies a keen pleasure in bargaining, based as 
much on independence of character as on love of 
money. Still more surprising were the signs on 
every hand of the universality of education. Not 
only were schools of every grade plentiful, and 
the University open, like them, free to all Greeks, 
of whatever station and of whatever country, but 
the chances thus offered were promptly, almost 
greedily, seized. Parents and still more children 
seemed alive to the advantages to be got from 
learning. The eagerness of the children in the 
Board schools was very different from the rather 
listless air so common at home — each one seemed 
anxious to be given a chance to show off before 



INTRODUCTION xiii 



the Strangers. And through the children, as 
through the men, there shone the spirit of 
democracy. In the great girls' school at Athens, 
the cabdriver's daughter sat side by side with the 
child of the Secretary of State. Never before 
had I heard of, or even imagined, so real a 
democracy in working order. There was no 
anarchism in it, no jealousy in it — or, at any rate, 
only an everywhere accepted jealousy which would 
admit of no one rising above another. There 
was one, of course, very much above the others 
— the King. Certainly, but he was not a Greek ; 
and, for the matter of that, in many things he 
accepted a position of equality with his subjects. 
He was often to be seen on foot in his capital. 
His smile was given quite freely to all. He had 
never permitted any Court intrigues, never un- 
democratically set anyone up or put anyone down. 
And the idea of royalty was itself attractive to 
these free, equal, brotherly people. The sceptre 
being so light, they enjoyed the splendour of the 
crown. They appreciated the superior dignity of 
a monarchical country in its foreign relationships, 
and had a strong personal attachment to their 
Sovereign and his philanthropic consort. 

That the remote future political result of this 
should be hard to foresee one might readily admit. 
In the words of Sir Thomas Wyse, 'A free 
Government, a free press, and a free University, 
existing immediately under the action of European 



INTRODUCTION 



education and feeling, and yet in juxtaposition 
with the landmarks of Byzantine civilization, form 
together a force calculated to impel in a very 
singular diagonal.' I noticed, too, that whereas 
in England patriotism was not generally looked 
on as a virtue of quite the front rank, and was, 
indeed, treated rather as a vice by our most 
advanced school as well as by the little band of 
millennial cosmopolitanists, while in one part of 
the United Kingdom the accentuation of the word 
differed, here in Greece the idea embraced in 
the word was the staple of conversation and the 
master-soul of all politics. Any crime against 
commonplace domestic laws could be forgiven 
for its sake. One might tire of an Aristides the 
Just, but never of a Kanares the Patriot. And 
the feeling was not a vague pride in ancestral 
exploits, true and legendary, but connoted a 
definite present policy. It said in terms that, 
whereas Byzantion was in origin a Greek colony, 
and the Byzantine Empire had been a thoroughly 
Greek empire, keeping guard for the later Greece 
that was to come against the onslaught of the 
Hunnish hordes, keeping alive both literature 
and law, philosophy and theology, so Byzantion 
was by moral right Greek still. It was a lordly 
patriotism that could not treat on equal terms the 
aspirations of a new little State like Bulgaria, that 
looked at the Turk less as an old and mighty 
oppressor than as a contemptible barbarian, and 



INTRODUCTION 



was inclined to show a slightly fretful reserve 
when Austria, England, France, Germany, Italy 
and Russia were spoken of as ' the Powers.' It 
was not a childish patriotism except in its im- 
patience, and it had great magnetic power. It 
sometimes seemed to puff itself up, yet it was 
never bloated, only swollen of its own strength. 

And as I constantly came into contact with 
Greeks, whether when riding about the country 
or caiquing about the islands, or boarding with 
a Greek family, I could not fail to be struck with 
the predominant traits of the national character. 
One can have no dealings with them without 
discovering their politeness, which is more graceful 
even than that of the French. As soon as you 
have taken up your quarters in the house of the 
village demarch a bouquet is presented to you. 
Your guide is constantly giving you flowers — 
always sweet-scented ones. It may, perhaps, 
happen that your bedroom is invaded by the 
family after you have retired, but, then, we wear 
such very funny clothes that a little curiosity on 
the subject is not to be wondered at. Of pretty 
speeches at going and coming you will hear no 
end. The object of every creature, shepherds' 
dogs and certain other beings that prowl at night 
excepted, seems to be to make your life agreeable. 
Sometimes these courtesies — these ceremonies I 
had almost called them — threaten to absorb the 
time at your disposal, but then, perhaps, that only 



INTRODUCTION 



proves that It Is more blessed to give than to 
receive. It Is an understood thing that every 
man's house Is your castle. Nor have you much 
to fear for your goods and chattels. If It Is a 
mere question of edibles and potables of a cheap 
kind, your guide may not be trustworthy, judged 
by an English criterion. But that is unfair ; the 
Greeks who have money are very free and easy 
with their dependents in such matters ; it Is the 
custom of the country ; he would help himself to 
your paysandu before your eyes, and he would 
not feel aggrieved If you annexed some of his 
olives. If It was a question of drachmas, or even 
such tempting things as knives or firearms, it 
would be quite another thing. You might find 
his admiring eloquence a more expensive thief 
But his honesty does not colour his speech. He 
will be truthful where truth or untruth may affect 
your welfare ; but If it is indifferent to them, I 
should not like to reckon on his truthfulness. 
And the odd thing is that you will get to enjoy 
the creations of his fancy. That is the secret of 
his falsehoods. It Is Oriental and ancient Greek 
as well. All the poets and most of the historians, 
even Aristotle, are bedaubed with the same 
painter's brush. It has in it no attempt, no wish 
to deceive. It is a compound of vividness of 
imagination and subconsciousness of literary skill. 
A cook employed by a party of which I was one 
for some weeks had a quite extraordinary genius 



INTRODUCTION 



for impromptu fabrication. Time after time we 
got his nose hard against the truth, but the harder 
we pressed the more brilhant the escape. But 
intemperance of language is their only intemper- 
ance. I never saw a drunken man in Greece. 
With good reason do they pity us for having to 
fortify ourselves with Bands of Hope ; but there 
are no teetotalers. They are fully alive to the 
Epikurean pleasure of using without abusing. 

Such are a few samples of the observations I 
made. While I was in the country, and still 
more after I had got back home, I attempted to 
see how far my more or less ill-assorted notes 
tallied with what could be statistically demon- 
strated. In the early days of my visit to Athens, 
a foreign diplomat at whose side I sat at the 
table d'kSte, and with whom I had many interest- 
ing talks about modern Greece, observed to me, 
' You are off to study the dead, and I the living ; 
but I think you will pay attention to the living 
too some day.' I only mention this to support a 
proposition which I believe to be almost uni- 
versally true — that, however antiquarian the in- 
stincts may be that send a traveller to Greece, he 
is certain to become infected after a little while by 
the patriotism of the Greece before his eyes. Of 
course I did not mean to write a book — no one 
ever does unless he has written one before, and 
not always then. 

After a year or two abroad, especially in a 



INTRODUCTION 



country at once so admittedly interesting and so 
unfrequently travelled over— I mean, of course, in 
comparison with the countries which lie between 
her and us — I found I had to withstand a good 
deal of questioning, a process which affects a re- 
turned tourist quite differently from the way in 
which it affects an unreturned candidate for Parlia- 
ment. But the questions proved that the amount 
known in an average English circle about the 
recent progress of Greece was not very flattering 
to that country, or perhaps to ours. I add this 
because I think that the ' Hellenic factor in the 
Eastern Question ' is a very important one — the 
most important one, even. We do not want 
Constantinople for ourselves, we are quite deter- 
mined that Russia shall not have it, we know that 
the Turks cannot keep it much longer, and yet, 
outside a strictly diplomatic set, very few people 
trouble their heads about the selection of the right 
candidate for it. Now that Lord Roseberv has 
given a knock-down blow to that don't-care-a- 
farthing - about - foreign - affairs bugbear of the 
Liberal Party, perhaps we may hope for an 
awakening of attention to the Eastern Question. 
In that case it must become patent to all that 
Greece is, from our point of view, the only 
possible grantee of Constantinople. 

Of my authorities, I need only mention three, 
though it goes without saying that the scores of 
books of travel and archaeological exposition that 



INTRODUCTION 



one reads when one is absorbed by a cause like that 
of Greece must have a share in the making of any 
book one may attempt on the subject afterwards. 

Mr. Lewis Sergeant's ' New Greece ' I have 
continually consulted ; I have used his figures for 
the times to which they applied, and I think I can 
subscribe to almost all his opinions as far as 
they regard Greece up to 1879. But a very 
important chapter of Greek history has been lived 
since then. 

For this later period, and, indeed, for all periods, 
my chief source of information has been the 
' Panhellenic Companion.' This, a sort of Greek 
Whitaker, was first published in 1890, and has 
been continued annually since. Unfortunately, so 
much leeway has to be made up, regular statistics 
never having before appeared to any valuable 
extent, that the same subjects do not recur each 
year. Accordingly, the latest data may be those 
of any year from 1889 to 1892. In some cases 
I have been able to supplement these figures from 
such sources as consular reports and Greek news- 
papers. 

The most important of my authorities is a 
pamphlet by M. Joseph D. Beckmann. His treat- 
ment of the present Greek financial situation is 
worthy of the proverbially logical French mind. 
To the average student, the problem he deals with 
appears desperately complex — a very Cretan 
maze ; but with this Ariadnean thread we can go 



INTRODUCTION 



in and out of it, and enjoy its intricacies at our 
pleasure. 

The system of orthography of place-names 
adopted is that of Bishop Wordsworth, not that of 
Colonel Leake — I have ' not endeavoured to 
suggest to the readers their modern sound, but 
their ancient sense.' The map, however, contains 
the traditional spelling, as the making of a new 
one would have necessitated considerable delay. 

Chapters xix. and xx. appeared in substantially 
the same form in the Newcastle Daily Chronicle 
in May last year. 



CHRONOLOGICAL SKETCH.* 

1814. — Foundation of the Philik^ Hetairia at Odessa. 
1815. — The Ionian Islands occupied by Great Britain. 
1818.— Removal of i'hilik^ Hetairia to Constantinople. 
1821. — All Pasha asks the Greeks to come to his aid against 
the Turks, promising them independence. 

First exploits of the Suliots and Mark Botzares. 

Rising under Mauromichales. 

Meeting of the Kalamai Senate. 

Archbishop Germanos raises the standard of the Cross at 
the monastery of Hagia Laura. 

Successful general rising in the Peloponnesos. 

Rising in Moldavia ; Prince Alexander Hypsilantes crosses 
the Pruth, but in vain. 

Massacre of Greeks at Constantinople. 

Rising general over Greece and the Archipelago. 

Greeks successful in several sea engagements, and capture 
Tripolis. 

National Assembly at Epidauros. 
1822.— Death of Ali Pasha. 

Massacre of Greeks at Chios. 

Defeat of Turks under Damales by Kolokotrones and 
Nikitas. 

Defeat of Greeks at Peta by Kourshid Pasha. 

Athens captured by the Greeks. 

Naval exploits of Kanares and Miaoules. 

Siege of Mesolonghi. 
1823. — Defeat of Omer Vriones at Karpenisi by the Greeks. 

Death of Mark Botzares. 

* Chiefly from Baedeker's ' Greece ' and the Guide Joanne, 
' Athfenes et ses Environs.' 



CHRONOLOGICAL SKETCH 



1824. — NTahmoud entrusts to Mehemet Ali, Pasha of Egypt, 
the task of subduing Greece. 
The Greeks sustain reverses. 
Death of Lord Byron. 
Party-strife among the Greeks. 
Massacre of the Psariots. 
Crete retaken by the Egyptians. 
1825. — Ibrahim Pasha, son of Mehemet Ali, lands a regular 
army in the Peloponnesos, takes Navarino, and beats 
Kolokotrones at Tripolis. 
Victory of Hypsilantes at Nauplion. 
Attempt of Kanares on Alexandria. 
1826. — Capture of Mesolonghi. 

The Turks under Kiontagi take Athens. 
Fabvier's campaign. 
1827. — New Assemblies of Epidauros and Troizen. 

John Kapodistria elected President of the Greek 

Republic. 
Attempt of Lord Cochrane and General Church to relieve 

Athens. 
Capitulation of the Greek garrison in the Akropolis. 
England, France, and Russia essay mediation, which 

Mahmoud haughtily rejects. 
Battle of Navarino. The combined English, French, 
and Russian fleets almost annihilate the Turkish fleet 
of 82 ships. 
1828. — The Turks beaten on the Danube. 

20,000 French troops under General Maison land in the 

Peloponnesos. 
Ibrahim Pasha evacuates the country. 
Reduction of Pylos, Korone, and Modone. 
1829. — Protocol of London ; Greece declared a hereditary 

monarchy, but tributary to the Porte. 
1830.— Second Protocol of London; Greece declared an 
independent sovereign kingdom ; Leopold of Saxe- 
Coburg (afterwards King of Belgium) refuses the 
Crown. 
1 83 1. —Dissensions among the Greeks; John Kapodistria 
assassinated ; his brother Augustine elected President. 



CHRONOLOGICAL SKETCH 



1832. — Anarchy. Treaty of London ; Prince Otho of Bavaria 

proclaimed King. Loan of sixty million francs. 
1833. — Arrival of King Otho ; Maurer in power. 
1834. — Athens chosen as capital. 

1835. — Unpopular administration of Count Armansperg ; 
all offices given to Germans ; dilapidation of 
finance. 
The King comes of age. 
1836. — The King marries Princess Amalia of Oldenburg. 

Count Armansperg dismissed. 
1843. — Revolution at Athens : a Constitution granted. 
1845. — Disturbances in the Peloponnesos. 
1848. — Risings in the provinces. 
1850. — The British fleet blockades the Peiraius. 

Mediation of France. 
1854. — Agitation in Greece at the beginning of the Crimean War. 
Insurrection in Epiros supported by the Greeks. 
The French occupy the Peiraius, and take possession of 
the Greek fleet, which they retain until 1857. 

1862, February. — Military revolt at Nauplion : the town and 

citadel in the hands of the insurgents. 
March. — The royal troops retake the town, but not the 

citadel. Disturbances at Syros. 
April. — The Ionian Islands Assembly begs England to 

unite them to Greece. Nauphon reduced. 
October. — Revolution breaks out in the Western 

Provinces. 

22nd. — Athens rises; formation of a Provisional 

Government. The King and Queen depart. 

1863, February. — The National Assembly meets. Negotia- 

tions with the protecting Powers as to the choice of 
a new King. 
March — June. — Prince William George of Schleswig- 
Holstein-Sonderburg-Gliicksburg, second son of the 
King of Denmark, and brother of the Princess of 
Wales, proclaimed King, and ascends the throne as 
George I. 
1864. — England gives Greece the Ionian Islands. 
A new Constitution is promulgated. 



CHRONOLOGICAL SKETCH 



1867.— Marriage of the King with Princess Olga, daughter of 

Grand-Duke Constantine Nikolaiewitch of Russia. 
1868. — Cretan insurrection ; Greek sympathy with, and aid to, 
the insurgents. 
Birth of Crown Prince Constantine (July 21). 
Turkish ultimatum to Greece with regard to Crete. 
Blockade of Syros. 
Mediation of the protecting Powers. 
1869. — Capitulation of Petropoulakes and the chief Cretan 
volunteers. 
Conference of Paris ; Greece accepts its proposals, and 
renews diplomatic relations with Turkey. 
1878 — The Greeks cross the Thessalian frontier, but yield to 
the persuasions and promises of the Powers. 
Berlin Congress (June 13 to July 13) ; Greece shabbily 
treated by the Powers. 
1880. — Berlin Conference ; Turkey refuses to submit. 
1881. — Constantinople Conference ; Thessaly and part of 

Epiros ceded to Greece. 
1882-1885, May. — M. Trikoupes Prime Minister. 
1885-1886, May. — M. Deleyannes Prime Minister ; Roumelian 
difficulty ; Greece, in spite of the warnings of the 
Powers, mobilizes her army and navy. 
1886. — Naval demonstration by the Powers (except France 
and Russia) in Suda Bay. 
May. — The representatives of the Powers leave Athens, 
and on the 8th their fleets blockade the Peiraius. 
M. Trikoupes replaces M. Deleyannes. 
June. — The blockade raised. 
1890, October. — M. Deleyannes again Prime Minister. 
1892, February. -M. Deleyannes dismissed by the King for 
failure to deal with the immediate financial needs of 
the country. 
May. — M. Trikoupes Prime Minister with an enormous 
majority in the Chamber. 



GREECE 
UNDER KING GEORGE 



CHAPTER I. 

POPULATION. 

General Statistics — Towns and Villages — Births and Deaths — 
Religion and Nationality. 

The number of Greeks in the best days of Old 
Greece has been estimated by different writers, 
their guesses varying between 10,000,000 and 
20,000,000; of the former 3,500,000 are allotted 
to that which is now Modern Greece, without 
Thessaly, Epiros, and the Ionian Islands, the 
share of the Peloponnesos being 1,720,000, and of 
the mainland 970,000. The statistics anterior to 
this century are no more reliable in Greece than 
elsewhere, but it may be accepted as a fact that 
war and oppression had constantly diminished the 
population of Greece since the days of Perikles. 
If we give any credit to the enumeration of those 



r 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



living in the Peloponnesos in 1692, which fixes the 
number at 116,000, we shall be convinced that, 
allowing for the immigration of a certain number 
of their conquerors for the time being, the Greeks 
were not troubled to any serious extent by the 
presence of the descendants of Romans, Goths, 
Slavs and Bulgars. 

At the outbreak of the revolution in 182 1, the 
figures were as follows : 



Peloponnesos ... 

Mainland 

Islands 


Christians. 

■■■ 334.896 
... 186,503 
... 154,247 


Turks. 

63.813 

19.853 

7.165 


Total. 

398,709 
206,356 
161,412 



Total 



675,616 90,831 766,477 



By 1832, so nearly had the influx of Hellenes 
from without counterbalanced the exodus of 
Turks and the losses of the War of Independ- 
ence, that the population of the Peloponnesos was 
384,322, that of the mainland, 145,000, and that 
of the islands, 183,286. The total Hellenic popu- 
lation actually shows a gain of 37,962. From 
1838 to 1 86 1 we get the following progressions : 

930,29s 
960,236 

986,734 
1,042,527 
1,052,627 
1,096,810 

Thus, in twenty-three years Greece had gained 
344,733 inhabitants, or 45-83 per cent, making a 



1838... 


■■ 752,077 


1844 


1839... 


• • 823,773 


1845 


1840 ... 


.. 850,246 


1848 


I84I ... 


..• 861,019 


1853 


1842 ... 


• • 853,005 


1856 


1843- 


•• 915,059 


I86I 



POPULA TION 



yearly accession of 14,987 inhabitants, or rgg per 
cent. The density had accordingly risen from 
1 5 '8 2 per square kilometre to 23 '18. 

Leaving on one side for the moment the Ionian 
Islands and Thessaly (the former of which were 
added in 1864 and the latter in 1881), we note the 
following increases : 





1^61. 


1870. 


1879. 


i88g. 


Peloponnesos ... 


552.414 


611,861 


709,245 


813,154 


Mainland 


318,535 


356,865 


441,033 


556,254 


Islands... 


225,861 


238,784 


259,056 


235,050 



Total ... 1,096,810 1,207,510 1,409,334 1,604,458 

Consequently, this period of twenty-eight years 
yields an increase of 507,648 inhabitants, or 
46 '2 8 per cent., i.e., a yearly increase of 18,130 
inhabitants, or i "65 per cent. The density be- 
comes 337 per square kilometre. 

The Ionian Islands, which, under British rule, 
had receded from 230,757 in 1853 to 228,631 in 
1862, progressed to 229,516 in 1870, and 238,783 
in 1889. 

The first census of Thessaly was in 1889, when 
it was found to contain 344,067 inhabitants. 

The total population of Greece was, in 1889, 
accordingly, 2,187,308, or just three times what 
it was when the State was formed in 1832. 

The United States have a yearly gain of 2-4 
per cent, (largely assisted by immigration), 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



Saxony of 1-4, England of 1-3, Russia of ra; 
while that of France is only o'2. 

Nor must it be forgotten that Greeks are rather 
prone to emigrate. The Akarnanians (especially 
the Karpenesiots) have a penchant for Turkey ; 
so have the Argives, and those who live in the 
northern Kyklades ; the inhabitants of Kythera, 
and many others, go to Smyrna and the rest of 
Turkey in Asia ; while the southern Kykladians 
go in troops to Egypt, in double numbers since 
our occupation. In fact, in addition to Greeks 
born abroad, there are 135,466 Greece-born 
Greeks distributed over the world. 

Contrary to the rule throughout Europe, males 
are more numerous than females, there being 
5i'82 of the former, and 48'i8 of the latter. In 
1852 it was vice versa. 

Towns and Villages. — The numerical pro- 
pfress of the Hellenes is best seen in the advance 
made by the towns. They are quite as essentially 
urban in their proclivities as their Periklean 
ancestors. At the time of the Revolution there 
were hardly any towns in Greece. Athens was 
little more than a village, with a few hundred souls, 
the Peiraius a wooden shed and landing-stage ; the 
chief towns in the early days of the movement 
were Epidauros, Mesolonghi, Kalamai, Nauplion 
and Argos, though they could not boast 5,000 
inhabitants apiece. The subjoined table shows 
the progress of the thirty-five towns which have 
now over 5,000 : 



POPULATION 



Progressive 
Rank. 

3 Athens 
8 Peiraius 

1 5 Patras 

29 Hermoupolis 

2 1 Kerkyra 

29 Zakynthos . 

1 Trikkala 
28 Larissa 

1 2 Pyrgos 

2 Volo 
27 Tripolis 

14 Kalamai 
31 Argos 
II Chalkis 
10 Mesolonghi 
2 1 Argostoli 

7 Philiatra 

13 Agrinion 

4 Ano Syros 

18 Arta... 

15 Aigion 
17 Lamia 

9 Karditsa 

31 Hydra 

26 Messene 

23 Megara 

34 Lexouri 
6 Leukas 

5 Gargalianoi 
33 Kranidi 

24 Langhadia 

19 Tyrnavos 

20 Nauplion 
24 Amphissa 

35 Spetsai 

Total 



Population. 






1879. 


i88<). 


Increase. . 


Per Cent 


■■ 63,374 


114.355 


50,981 


80 


.. 21,618 


34,327 


12,709 


58 


■■ 25,494 


33,529 


8,035 


31 


s 21,540 


22,104 


564 


2 


•■ 16,515 


19,025 


2,51° 


15 


• ■ 16,250 


16,603 


353 


2 


•■ 5,563 


14,820 


9,247 


166 


■■ I3>i6r) 


13,610 


441 


3 


... 8,788 


12,647 


3,859 


43 


4,987 


11,029 


6,042 


121 


.. 10,057 


10,698 


641 


6 


7,609 


10,696 


3,093 


40 


... 9,861 


9,814 


(-47) 


— 


... 6.877 


9.919 


3.042 


44 


6,324 


9,476 


3-152 


49 


... 7,871 


9,075 


1.204 


15 


■■■ 5.632 


8,973 


3.341 


59 


... 5,218 


7,430 


2,212 


42 


... 4,328 


7,338 


3,010 


69 


5,700 


7,048 


1.348 


23 


5,311 


7,001 


1,690 


31 


■•■ 5,506 


6,888 


1,382 


25 


4,501 


6,798 


2,294 


50 


6,446 


6,413 


(-33) 


— 


..• 5,853 


6,325 


472 


8 


• •■ 5,348 


6,036 


688 


12 


■•• 5,418 


5,740 


(-322) 


(-5) 


3>434 


5.539 


2,105 


61 


■■• 3,397 


5,528 


2,131 


62 


... 5,628 


5.500 


(-128) 


(-2) 


... 4,825 


5.375 


5.SO 


1 1 


■•• 4.337 


5,305 


968 


22 


4,589 


5,459 


870 


18 


... 4,667 


5,180 


513 


1 1 


... 6,495 


5.172 


(—1323) 


(-20) 



342,733 471,760 129,027 37-6 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



An analysis of the first thirty-five urban 
sanitary districts (in alphabetical order) in Eng- 
land and Wales with a present population of over 
5,000 gives : 

t88t. i8gi. Increase. Per Cent. 

488,458 57S.i°3 86,645 17-7 

Nor can it be said that the Greek urban increase 
means a rural decrease, for, eliminating the towns, 
we find : 

i8yg. i88g. Increase. Per Cent. 

i!349.33i 1,429,991 80,660 , 5-9 

In spite of their fondness of town life, 78 per 
cent, of the population is rural, a proportion 
similar to that of Roumania, and less than that of 
Italy, but exceeding that of all other European 
countries. 

Further, a good many of the towns which figure 
in the above list are really rural ; that is to say, 
their inhabitants are chiefly engaged in farming. 
There are, or until quite recently were, no isolated 
farm-houses and cottages in Greece. Originally 
gregarious from fear of the Turks, the peasants 
continued to house themselves in big villages as 
long as brigandage lasted, trudging off to their 
work in the morning with a pocketful of bread 
and olives, which they would eat at mid-day beside 
some spring or brook under the shade of a plane- 
tree, and returning to their little town before 



POPULATION 



nightfall. For the same reason, as well as owing 
to peasant proprietorship, country-seats are non- 
existent. Now that brigandage has been dead 
for twenty years, a tendency to live on the land 
they till is beginning to be observed. The multi- 
plicity of small villages may easily be remarked 
in the following table : 



Nomarchy. 
Attika-Boiotia 
Phthiotis-Phokis 
Aitolia-Akarnania 
Argolis-Korinth 
Arkadia 
Achaia-Elis ... 
Lakonia 
Messenia 
Euboia 
Kyklades 
Kerkyra 
Kephallenia... 
Zakynthos . . . 
Arta ... 
Larissa 
Trikkala 

Total . . . 



Eparchies. Denies. Villages. 



5 
4 
6 
6 

4 
4 
4 

5 
4 
7 
5 
4 
I 

2 

6 
3 

7° 



28 
36 
34 
32 
33 
30 
28 

31 

24 

39 

22 

20 

10 

8 

38 

27 

440 



192 
266 

352 
322 

325 
521 
456 
45° 
27s 
206 
217 

245 
61 

55 
3'3 
319 



4,575 



There are only 1,006 urban sanitary districts in 
England and Wales. 

Births and Deaths. — The 'Companions' 
issued so far give the birth-rates, etc., up to 1884 
only. In the decade ending with that year there 
were 45,177 births per annum, or 26-59 per 
thousand, while there were 3i,959 deaths pef 



8 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

annum, or i8"84 per thousand. The rate per 
thousand in other capitals was last year : 





Births. 


Deaths. 




Births. 


Deaths. 


London 


.. 29-2 


19-7 


Berlin 


• 32' 


17- 


Edinburgh . 


.. 287 


24- 


Vienna 


■■ 32-4 


20' 


Dublin 


.. 22-8 


22-8 


Rome 


•■ 2S'4 


i6-r 


Paris 


• 23-5 


19-2 


St. Petersburg — 


19-2 


Brussels 


•• 24-9 


17-8 


New York 


... — 


20-8 



People very frequently reach extreme old age. 
The following table shows the rate to population 
of those alive at different ages in Greece and 
France : 

In Greece. In France. 
75 to 80 one in 1,602 
80 ,, 85 „ 2,101 

85 >! 9° .. 3)02o one in 4,352 

9° i> 95 ,> S.918 „ 20,000 

95 » 100 „ 11,988 ,, 83,145 

Over loo „ 16,678 , 352,947 

M. Ornstein attributes Hellenic longevity to 
good climate, pure air, simple food, better natural 
physique, and less hereditary disease. 

The Athens death-rate is 21-4 per thousand, 
March being the most fatal month for males, and 
June for females. 

Religion and Nationality. — In the 1879 
census account was taken of religion and language. 
There were 24,165 Mohammedans, 14,677 Roman 
Catholics, 5,792 Jews, and 740 others, the re- 
mainder belonging to the Orthodox Greek 
Church. 



POPULATION 



There were 58,858 Albanians, mostly congre- 
gated at Kropia, Salamis, Eleusis, Thespise, 
Solygeia, Acharnai, Marathon, Tanagra, Pellene, 
Eidyllia, Plataia, and Thisbe. The frequent 
recurrence of battlefields is somewhat remarkable. 
Perhaps the situation suitable for a battle is par- 
ticularly adapted to the shepherd habits of the 
Albanians, most of the places mentioned above 
being situated on the hinge between mountain 
and plain. 

There are also a score or so thousand Wal- 
lachians. Of Slavs there are none. Those Slavs 
who stayed in Greece have become so absorbed 
in the Hellenic race that they are almost untrace- 
able. Professor Hopf has innocently exploded 
the charges cunningly devised by Fallmerayer 
against the Hellenic genealogy of modern Hellas, 
and it is now generally admitted by scientific 
archaeologists that Greeks are really Greeks Of 
course it must not be imagined that the Spartan 
of to-day has an unbroken lineage from the 
Spartan of the time of Leonidas, nor the latter- 
day Megalopolitan from an Epaminondan an- 
cestor. Such special similarities as travellers 
claim to have remarked, where they are not the 
product of a pleasantly sentimental imagination, 
are probably due to topographic influences. The 
surroundings which made the Athenian of old 
intellectual, conceited, somewhat superstitious, and 
intensely democratic, have the same tendency still. 



lo GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

The Albanians and Wallachians are also of 
Greek stock, the former being identified by Hahn 
with the Illyrians, and the latter by Roesler with 
the Thracians, identifications which are now 
generally received. 



[" ] 



CHAPTER II. 

AGRICULTURE. 

General Statistics — Corn — Stock— Dairy - Farming — Poultry- 
Game — Wine — Currants — Olives — Figs — Other Fruit — 
Mulberry — Cotton — Valonia — Tobacco— Vegetables. 

When Greece became free her productive power 
was very slight. The Turkish tyranny had not 
been strong enough to force its bondmen into a 
slavery really lucrative to their masters ; at the 
same time, it had been too greedily wide awake to 
allow as much profit to the subject race as would 
have encouraged it to industry. With freedom 
came the belief in the possibility of acquiring 
wealth ; and gradually the willingness to undergo 
the requisite amount of toil for success is becom- 
ing apparent. It is hardly fair to tax the Greeks 
with laziness in money-making. In the first 
place, the same persistent energy is not to be 
expected in a country as beautiful — and as hot — 
as Greece, where one's needs are so few, and so 
very pleasant a life is offered at a very small daily 



12 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

expense. In the second place, the Greeks who 
had thrown off the Turkish yoke looked instinc- 
tively on affluence as the natural result of free- 
dom — for were not the Turks free, and were not 
they nearly all rich ? — not heeding that the Turks 
had been masters of an alien soil, while they were 
only masters of their own. 

As the Klephtic feeling grew less, and brigand- 
age became finally extinct, the land by slow 
degrees came into greater cultivation. Up to 
i860 there are no reliable statistics. The pro- 
gress made since will be seen from the appended 
table : 



Wheat 

Barley 

Meslin 

Maize 

Oats 

Rice 

Dhimenon 

Rye 

Turkish maize 

Millet 

Potato 

Bean 

Haricot . . . 

Pea 

Chick-pea (i) 

Chick-pea (2) 

Chick-pea (3) 

Dwarf-pea... 

Lentil 





Stremmaia. 




i860. 


1875- 


1887. 


944>o93 


1,601,480 


2,484,03: 


362,871 


679,111 


902,502 


361,825 


577,500 


501,263 


36,988 


— 


33,237 


41,486 


— 


90,249 


— 


— 


2,000 


3,67s 


— 


25,279 


— 


49,240 


32,054 


512,586 


218,160 


780,296 


436 


58,310 


899 


— 


— 


20,000 


— 


19,410 


46,535 


— 


43,760 


49,824 


— 


15,560 


609 


— 


— 


34,547 


— 


16,620 


37,944 


— 


330 


— 


— 


— 


10,722 


— 


— 


11,268 



AGRICULTURE 



13 







Stremmata. 






i860. 


1875- 


1887. 


Lupin 


— 


— 


46,175 


Oryvos 


— 


— 


44,961 


Vetch 


840 


— 


19,193 


Broom 


— 


— 


2,093 


Sesame, etc. 


4.504 


9,170 


79,595 


Hemp and linseed 


— 


— 


3,480 


Flax 


— 


3,810 


3,917 


Cotton 


21,105 


109,860 


61,916 


Tobacco ... 


25,000 


42,204 


38,987 


Vine 


492,502 


— 


1,266,204 


Currant vine 


iS3.°S8 


— 


468,77s 


Olive 


370,000 


— 


1,742,154 


Mulberry 


75,000 


— 


76,945 


Velanidia 


13,000 


— 


— 


Fig 


18,000 


— 


104,809 


Almond 


— 


— 


4,5°9 


Other fruit 


— 


— 


106,935 


Vegetable gardens 


— 


-- 


40,242 


Gardens 


— 


— 


19,376 


Fallow 


2,516,000 


— 


4,035,331 


Forests 


■■ S.4i9>66o 


— 


6,000,000 


Sundries 


— 


1 10 


60,985 


Various (returns incomp 


ete) 1,482,949 


i3>278,s65 


— 


Total under cultivation . 


■• i2>8S5.S6o 


16,721,200 


19,290,841 


Waste land (poor) 


.. 11,748,000 


diminished 


increased 


Mountains (often pastura 


ge) 18,599,240 


increased 


increased 


Marshes and lakes 


833,448 


increased 


increased 


Towns, rivers, roads, etc 


1,653,000 


increased 


increased 



Total 



45,699,248 50,211,000 63,606,000 



Considering the addition of the Ionian Islands 
between the first period and the second, and that 
of Thessaly between the second and third, the 



14 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



improvement is not very great. However, the 
advance seems made in the right direction, viz., 
corn, vines, currants, and olives. 

Corn. — The wide plains of Thessaly, and 
others, such as those of Argos, Sparta, Messene, 
and Megalopolis, are fairly productive, though the 
system of agriculture is a good deal too archaic, 
being, in fact, almost Hesiodic. Steam-ploughs, 
and other modern engines of culture, are quite 
unknown. Nature there smiles so when she is 
tickled, that she is never subjected to our rougher 
treatment. Often, indeed, the primitive wooden 
plough is discarded for the hoe. Even under 
these conditions the farmer frequently gets two 
harvests in a year. 

One of the causes contributing to the lack of 
earnestness in Greek farming is a certain demo- 
cratic absence of the perception of the right of 
property — especially in other people. Exactitude 
they consider exaction. In riding about the 
country you will find that your agogiat never 
carries fodder for his animals during the season 
when the corn is standing ; when the hour for the 
mid-day meal arrives he just turns the animals 
loose into the nearest corn. Nor will he admit that 
this is theft. He is quite sure that no one would be 
so unneighbourly, so inhospitable, as to refuse to 
the passing stranger an obol's worth of corn. 
Probably the Turks inured them to this forced 
charity, and they have not yet learned to appre- 



AGRICULTURE 15 



ciate the less poetic, if more practical, advantages 
of the accurate European szmm cidqiie. 

It is a fact that at present Greece does not 
grow enough corn for her own consumption. Her 
half a million families require forty bushels a year 
each, or a total of 20,000,000 bushels, while the 
amount of corn availabledoes not exceed 14,000,000 
bushels, thus leaving 6,000,000 to be imported. 
This constitutes a serious loss, as there is not 
only the carriage to be paid for, and the profit 
left elsewhere, but Greek labourers lose their 
share of the work, and so of the money. Thessaly 
could, unaided, make up the deficiency, as there 
are there over 3,000,000 stremmata of corn-land 
not yet brought into cultivation. It is to be hoped 
that the new Athens-Larissa railway will stimulate 
the Thessalians to greater energy. 

There is very little fault to be found with the 
system of land-tenure. In the Peloponnesos 
peasant proprietorship very largely prevails, most 
of the farms being an acre or two only in extent, 
although in the plains they average from ten to 
fifty acres. The land is otherwise farmed under 
a form of metayer tenure which Mr. Rennell 
Rodd very accurately thus describes in his last 
book, 'The Customs and Lore of Modern 
Greece ' : 

' In Thessaly, which is still in the hands of large 
proprietors, the peasants, as a rule, pay one-third 
of the produce in kind. The plains of Thessaly 



1 6 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

are, however, subject to bad harvests, in conse- 
quence of a succession of frost and snow too soon 
after the seed has been committed to the ground 
in autumn ; and a series of such bad years, 
coupled with want of method and a want of 
proper irrigation, have reduced the peasants to 
very sore straits ; but faciHties are now being 
offered them by the Government for borrow- 
ing money upon easy terms, which will enable 
them gradually to become proprietors of their 
holdings. 

In Euboia, where the return to agriculture is 
large, the payment of a third and less where the 
land is poor has enabled the peasantry to buy out 
many of the original holders, and already a greater 
part of the island is in their hands. In Boiotia I 
learned from several large proprietors that it was 
the custom to advance seed to the cultivator, 
which advance became the first charge on the 
produce of the harvest, with fifteen per cent, 
more as the landlord's share. In the Ionian 
Islands two systems prevail. Under one the 
owner takes two-thirds of the produce, but 
supplies seeds and implements, manure — all, in 
short, except mere manual labour ; the other 
system resembles the Italian metairie, under 
which the tenant cannot be dispossessed, save 
in very exceptional circumstances, which it is not 
practically possible to enforce ; a fifth of the 
holding is looked upon as belonging absolutely 



AGRICULTURE 17 

to the tenant, inalienable from his person, and 
descending to his next-of-kin. Peasants holding 
under this system pay nominally one-half of the 
produce to the owner of the land, and furnish 
themselves with the necessary equipment ; but it 
seldom happens that the proprietor obtains the 
stipulated share of his dues, and the peasant is 
practically master of the situation. For instance, 
the olive groves, which represent the chief wealth 
of the islands, are approximately valued at their 
estimated yield, while the fruit is still ripening, 
by the peasant and a representative of the owner. 
The latter, however, is generally himself of the 
peasant class, and in sympathy with the tenant, 
and therefore inclined to under-estimate the yield ; 
then, when the return has been made, and the 
share of the landlord determined, he is frequently 
informed after the harvest that such and such of 
the trees were despoiled by insects, that hail or 
storm damaged so many more, so that his part of 
the produce is reduced to about half of the 
estimate.' 

There is very little doubt that a considerable 
source of revenue is closed to the Government 
owing to the utter confusion which prevailed after 
the Turks had been driven out. The Capitani 
seized lands where they could, and many thou- 
sands of acres have been accordingly lost by pre- 
scription to the Government. 

2 



li 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



Stock. — 










1SS2. 


1SS7. 


TSp2. 


Camels 


53 


44 


44 


Horses 


110,305 


91.513 


100,000 


Mules 


49,381 


46,344 


52,000 


Donkeys . 


100,038 


91.543 


100,000 


Cattle 


387,177 


331.689 


360,000 


Sheep 


■ 3.301.976 


2,620,161 


2,900,000 


Goats 


• 2,545,497 


1,981,483 


2,000,000 


Pigs 


38,377 


13,679 


25,000 



It will be observed that the depression in trade 
caused by the military excitement of 1885 was 
very severe in 1887, and has not been yet quite 
recovered from. Last year's figures are necessarily 
not thoroughly exact, but they show an invariable 
falling off as compared with 1882, except as to 
mules, and an advance as compared with 1887, 
except in the case of the camels, which may well 
be the same forty-four animals which figured in 
1887. They are used only in the neighbourhood 
of Parnassos, and a string of them may often be 
met at Krissa. Of the cattle at present in the 
country, most are far too athletic for the table, 
having spent their lives at the plough-head or 
other similar work. No less a sum than 1,460,819 
drachmas was last year paid out of the country for 
animals for food. 

Dairy-farming. — On this subject there are no 
statistics available, but everyone who has travelled 
in Greece is well aware of the deficiency of the 
country in this respect. Cows' milk is hardly to 



AGRICULTURE 19 

be bought outside Athens, and even there is 
scarce. As a rule, the goats are driven into the 
towns in the morning, and milked at the doors of 
the houses. The butter, which, although it more 
nearly resembles Cornish cream than English 
butter, is archaeologically the real article, is re- 
markably good, and makes a fine compound with 
the honey from Mount Hymettos. The fresh 
cheese is excellent ; in fact, I never remember 
tasting such cheese in my life as that which one 
summer evening was the staple of my dinner a 
thousand feet or so from the summit of Parnassos. 
There were three kinds : the fresh ; laourti, a 
very palatable cream-cheese ; and Misethra, a 
rich, older variety. The ordinary salt cheese 
beloved by the rustics is not very toothsome to an 
Englishman. 

Poultry. — The fowls of Greece, which form 
the traveller's food almost wherever he goes, 
relieved occasionally by sheep and goat, are like 
the cattle without the latter's excuse. Luckily 
pilafi conceals a great deal of toughness. There 
is probably room for a large extension of poultry- 
farming in the neighbourhood of Athens. Turkeys, 
geese, and ducks are rarely met with. 

Game. — Hares are fairly plentiful on the main- 
land ; red-legged partridges on the islands, espe- 
cially Aigina and some of the Kyklades ; wood- 
cock in Aitoliaand Akarnania; quails in Kythera; 
duck and other wildfowl on Kopa'is and the other 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



lakes and marshes. Pigeons are common every- 
where, and becaficoes not rare. Big game is 
hardly to be found, though bears, wolves, and 
jackals visit the mountains in the winter. There 
is no preserving, and one may shoot wherever 
one pleases ; a license, which is not, however, 
always considered essential by the natives, costs 
five drachmas. 

Wine. — Greek wines are but little known in 
England, and not much better on the Continent, 
and, indeed, only those who have drunk them on 
the spot have any idea of their excellence. Many 
of them are of tempting colour and exquisite 
flavour, and most have the rather old-fashioned 
merit of purity ; at the same time, wine-making is 
left so much to Nature that great care and atten- 
tion are required in selection and shipping. 
Malmsey, once the glory of Monemvasia, is now 
no more. M. About, in 1853, wrote,, ' C'est tout 
au plus s'ils fabriquent tous les ans de quoi noyer 
Clarence.' The best wine at present grown in 
Greece is that of the King's vineyards at Dekeleia. 
Amongst the finest are the white Kephallenia, 
Rombola and Moschato (sweet), which are shipped 
in considerable quantities to the Continent, 
especially to Germany, by Mr. E. A. Toole. 
Zakynthos is renowned for its Lithakiotikon (red) 
and Verdere (white) ; the former is sometimes of 
a wonderfully fine quality, but with the present 
primitive means of manufacture no proprietor is 



AGRICULTURE 



at all certain that his coming crop will maintain 
his vineyard's good name. Ithaka produces a 
fine full-bodied black wine, a little of which some- 
times finds its way to England, and also a very 
fair white wine. After this come the wines of 
Santorin, which, however, are not as good as they 
were, and the wine of Petaleia. Kerkyra and 
Lenkas produce large quantities of fair quality, 
which are exported to Genoa, Marseilles, Bordeaux, 
Rouen, and Hamburg for blending. Kyme, in 
Euboia, also exports with this object to France. 
Keos produces a good black wine, which is con- 
sumed chiefly in Athens and Peiraius. Of the 
Attic wines the best (after the King's) is 
M. Skouzes' Clos Marathon, a very fine Hocky 
wine, of which the Grand Hotel in Paris, has the 
monopoly. M. Solon's white C6tes de Parnes is 
good — much better than the dark. M. Syngros, 
too, grows- fair wine. The Deutsche Actien 
Gesellschaft fiir Wein, at Patras, under the direc- 
tion of Herr Gustav Clauss, has, after years of 
persevering endeavour, obtained a good sale in 
Germany, especially for its white dinner-wines. 
Their black Mavrodaphne is also a good and 
saleable table-wine ; they also produce a cham- 
pagne which is pure, but not very cham- 
pagney. A similar ambition has taken hold of 
the Tegeans, but their Tzampania is very undry, 
and will not always even fizz. French companies 
have at various times attempted wine-growing in 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



certain parts of the Peloponnesos, notably in the 
plain of Mantineia (near Tripolis), but from one 
cause or another they have given up the 
attempt. Most of the wine consumed in the 
country is, as is well known, flavoured with resin ; 
but the palate soon becomes used to this pecu- 
liarity, and can discriminate between the fine 
vintages of Lakonia and Naxos and the raw 
and rough products of Argolis and part of 
Arkadia. The retsinatos of Euboia and the Attic 
Mesogaia are also much esteemed. The antiquity 
of the custom of adding resin has not yet been 
adequately explored ; I believe it is not known to 
exist or to have existed in any other country. It 
is not impossible that the pine-cones associated 
with Dionysos and the satyrs may be due to it, in 
which case it would be of interest to discover the 
earliest instance in extant or described works of 
art. Modern Greeks sometimes assert that their 
special political tendencies and sanguine tempera- 
ment are in a large measure traceable to it. 
It has the reputation, too, of being anti-pyretic, 
and I think it is not unlikely to be anti-rheumatic. 
A little more knowledge of vine culture, and 
a great deal more attention to scientific wine- 
making, ought to lead to a very extensive 
increase in the export of wine, as Greece can 
certainly produce better wines than Italy, even 
including Sicily, and not improbably as good 
wines as any other country whatsoever. 



, AGRICULTURE 23 

Currants. — The development of the currant 
trade was one of the first outward signs of the 
freedom of Greece. In 1820 there were pro- 
duced over 4,000 tons, but the Turks persistently 
destroyed the plants. The production has risen 
steadily (making allowance for rainy years and 

disease) : 

Tons. Tons. 

1830 ... 8,920 1871 ... 81,374 

1851 ... 40,510 1881 ... 124,826 

1861 ... 42,759 1891 ... 167,000 

The last-named quantity was worth to Greece 
70,000,000 francs (gold). Last year the crop 
was partially spoiled, and the returns will be 
consequently less satisfactory. 

The quantities consumed by the different 



countries were : 










i88g. 


i8po. 


1891.* 




Tons. 


Tons. 


Tons. 


England 


. 51,680 


67,650 


S9.000 


France 


70,000 


39.350 


20,000 


United States .., 


• I3)2°0 


15.700 


9,400 


Germany 


. 22,670 


18,200 


9,700 



Canada and Australia are becoming consider- 
able consumers. The two most striking features 
in the above table are the enormous increase of 
English consumption, and the decrease in French 
consumption. The former is partly due to the 
currant tax having been reduced, in 1890, to 2s. 

* August I to October 31, or about three-fifths of the yearly 
total. 



24 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE' 



a hundredweight, by Mr. Goschen, while the 
latter has a similar cause, the imposing of a new 
tax in 1 89 1 of 12 francs per 100 kilograms by 
the French Minister of Finance in addition to 
the 6 francs tax already in existence. The 
'Hellenic Companion' for 1892 contains in its 
supplement a paper on 'The Currant in France,' 
by M. M. Chairetes. He says : ' The sending 
of large quantities of currants to France for the 
preparation of wine has little by little attracted 
to itself the animosity of the vine-growing com- 
munity, who have recognised a dangerous rival 
in this new industry. The French wine-growers 
had intended to gain themselves the advantage 
of the higher price of wines resulting from the 
phylloxera catastrophe, and consequently could 
not but be confounded when they saw a foreign 
product gradually take the place of their grapes 
In the manufacture of wine.' The currants are 
grown principally along the south of the Gulf of 
Korinth, Elis being responsible for 94,000,000 
litres in 1891, Triphyllia 35,000,000, Messenia 
35,000,000, Patras 29,000,000, Pylia 22,000,000, 
Korinth 21,000,000, Kephallenia 20,000,000, 
Aigialeia 19,000,000, Olympia 17,000,000, Za- 
kynthos 13,000,000, and Naupaktos 10,000,000; 
the chief places of export being, consequently, 
Patras (one-third of the whole), Katakolon, 
Kalamai, Zakynthos, and Kephallenia. The diffi- 
culty of currant-culture can be seen from the 



AGRICULTURE 25 



following extract from ' New Greece,' by Mr. 
Lewis Sergeant (1879) : ' When the fruit is pro- 
duced it is liable to destruction or deterioration by 
rough weather or excessive moisture ; and yet 
the culture cannot be extended far inland. The 
crops are gathered in August, and it happens 
that the Gulf of Korinth is at this time fre- 
quently exposed to storms, which may in a day 
convert a heavy crop into a light one. The vine 
bears in its sixth year, and does not reach per- 
fection for a dozen or fifteen years, so that it is 
necessary to manage the plantations very syste- 
matically, and to sink capital long before a return 
is expected.' And capital is one of the good 
things that Greece abounds least in. Several 
seasons have been very bad in consequence of 
disease, but now that the farmers have been 
induced (by success) to believe that it is not 
irreligious to supplement prayers with sulphur the 
harm from this source is not so formidable. 

Seeing that the income derived by England 
from the currant tax last year was only ^113,994 
net, there is no reason why the tax should not 
be altogether abolished. The slight budgetary 
inconvenience would probably be balanced by the 
benefit to the poor consumer ; the friendly action 
to Greece remains to the good. 

Olives. — The olive, with its feuillage discret, 
is, next to the mountains, the most familiar 
feature in Greek landscape. So it was of old, 



26 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



and so it continued to be till Ibrahim Pacha cut 
down two-thirds of the trees. No sooner had 
the Greeks gained their independence, moreover, 
than they began at once to plant olives. In 
1834 there were 2,300,000 trees, in i860 there 
were 370,000 stremmata (with about twenty trees 
to the stremma), in 1887 1,742,154 stremmata. 
The consumption of the dried fruit (mostly the 
black kind) in Greece is very large, as it is the 
one relish which the peasant can afford. The 
export of olives and of olive oil is considerable 
and progressive. 

Olives. Olive Oil. 

649,877 drachmas. 2,318,252 drachmas. 

i>o5S>9i4 „ 3:535.821 

709.362 „ 1,506,313 „ * 



isa2 
1887 
i8q2 



In 1889 the chief consumers were 



Russia 


• 254.770 


drachmas. 


1.378,874 


Turkey 


. 226,776 




263,460 


Roumania . 


. 182,418 




25,262 


Egypt 


• 135,418 




115,888 


France 


• 51.473 




— 


Italy 


21.359 




1.542,347 


Austria 


• 15.338 




406,794 


England . 


— 




80,501 


Germany . 


— 




62,881 



There is also a small quantity of the oil made 
from the kernels sent every year to France. 



* January i to August 31. 



AGRICULTURE 27 



The trees are placed at considerable intervals, 
and do not require very much attention ; they 
yield a good crop every four or five years, and 
live to a great age. 

Figs. — This is a culture only recently tried, 
but is likely to succeed. There were 18,000 
stremmata in i860, and 104,809 in 1889. The 
export in 1890 amounted to 2,248,008 drachmas 
(182,334 staters), by far the largest quantity going 
to Austria, though Turkey and Russia were also 
buyers. Of the production last year (up to 
August 15), Kalamai shipped 100,519 staters, 
the trees being planted in long lines in its neigh- 
bourhood, Nesi 26,814, ^r^d Almyros and Lonkas 
smaller quantities. The quality nearly equals that 
of Smyrna figs. 

Other Fruit. — The almond-tree area in 1889 
was 4, 509 stremmata ; the orange-tree area is 
not given in any statistical papers that I know 
of, but should be very much larger than the 
former, as all the valleys and plains have their 
share of orange trees. Lakonia, Messenia, Argolis, 
Karystos in Euboia, the islands of Paros, Naxos, 
Andros, and Poros, and the Troezenian mainland 
opposite to the last-named island, are most cele- 
brated. Most of these places export considerable 
quantities, which form the largest part of the 
1,561,670 okas exported in 1890. Lemons, 
citrons, bergamots, etc., are also grown in great 
variety. Peaches, apricots, etc., are of more 



2 8 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

recent introduction, and are not yet satisfactory, 
being either gathered in a too unripe state, or 
not scientifically cultivated. The total area under 
fruit-trees, exclusive of almonds, in 1887 was 
106,935. You also find apples (some of very 
good flavour), carob, damson, hazel-nut, jujube, 
loquat, medlar, morella-cherry, pear, pistachio- nut, 
plum, pomegranate, quince, service - tree, and 
walnut, and, amongst the herbaceous and fruticose 
kinds, gooseberry, melon, raspberry, strawberry, 
and water-melon. Fruit is very cheap, sometimes 
4 lb. a penny, of various sorts, in the islands. 

The Mulberry. — The mulberry is not planted 
so much as a fruit-tree, but as food for the silk- 
worm, although Morus nigra produces a pleasant 
fruit, from which in some parts of Messenia a 
strong drink is distilled. Moms alba, the taste- 
less-fruited species, is grown in Attika, as also 
are, though less frequently, the Chinese, Italian, 
and Prussian kinds. It is too slow-growing (much 
slower even than the olive) to appeal effectually 
to the rather in-a-hurry-to-be-rich instinct of the 
average Hellene. Then the silk itself, when it 
comes, has not a very ready sale. It is used, 
certainly, for the well-known Kalamai handker- 
chiefs, and the less - known but much richer 
Hydriot kummerbunds, and for the best dresses 
of the damsels who have the good luck to live in 
a silk-growing neighbourhood ; but Europe has 
not yet learnt to appreciate it. At the same time, 
for handkerchiefs, neckties, and scarfs, it answers 



AGRICULTURE 



29 



admirably. It is so light, that for a ball-dress 
(not Koan), or especially a wedding-dress (not 
Empire), it would be perfectly ideal. There are 
76,945 stremmata of mulberry at present, very 
little more than there were thirty years ago. The 
value of the silk exported in 1890 was 502,730 
drachmas, and of the cocoons, 870,648 drachmas. 
France bought all the silk, and Italy nearly 
two-thirds of the cocoons, of which France and 
Austria were also buyers. We in England get 
ours indirectly through France, with a French 
name, and no doubt a French price. Void a fine 
opening for Liberty's ! 

Cotton. — The American Civil War gave a 
considerable stimulus to cotton-growing in Gi-eece. 
In i860 there were 21,105 stremmata; in 1887 
there were 61,916, mostly in the neighbourhood 
of Levadeia, and in the sub - nomarchy of 
Phthiotis. The annual production is about 
15,000,000 kilograms; some of this comes to 
England. It is said to be of superior quality. 
This is another industry which ought to thrive. 

Valonia. — The Qtiercus cegilops produces 
acorns which are used in tanning and other 
more delicate operations. 

The number of stremmata in i860 was 13,000, 
and there should be much more at the present 
time, although I cannot find any more recent 
record. The export value in i8go was 1,299,716 
drachmas, rather over half of which went to 
Austria, and more than a quarter to England. 



30 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

There is a very fine grove of velanidia on the 
right-hand road from Marathon to Rhamnus. 
The region most productive of valonia is, how- 
ever, that of Xeromeros, in Akarnania.* Here 
this magnificent, broad-foHaged oak grows luxuri- 
antly on the bare rock. The peasants who live 
in the villages near come in the autumn and help 
themselves and make just about enough to keep 
body and soul together for the rest of the year. 
Tobacco. — 

Area in i860 ... ... ... 25,000 stremmata. 

i> 1875 42,204 „ 

=, 1887 38,967 

As tobacco has long been under Government 
surveillance (it is now a monopoly), its area is of 
necessity circumscribed. The value exported 
has increased more steadily than that of most 
Greek agricultural products, having been 

719,583 drachmas in 1871 
1,581,916 ,, 1882 

2,317,837 „ 1887 

2,800,239 „ 1889 

3,975,723 „ 1890 

Turkey and Egypt take about three-quarters of 
this, which they make into cigarettes, and pack 
in boxes plentifully besprinkled with crescents 
and Turkish characters and induce the British 
dude to purchase at the rate of a penny each. 

* ' Le Mont Olympe et I'Acarnanie,' by L. Heuzey, pp. 236, sg. 



AGRICULTURE 31 



Holland, France, England, Austria, and Russia 
{in the order of import quantity), also buy. As far 
as my own experience goes, I should say that the 
best is that which comes from near Parnassos ; 
then that from Lamia, Lakonia, Mesolonghi and 
Arkadia, and, least good, that from Mykenai. 
Baedeker mentions that from Trichonia as well, 
and adds that the annual consumption is about 
4 lbs. per person. The average Hellene, whether 
urban or rustic, always has a cigarette in his 
mouth ; indoors, especially in country cafes, he 
often smokes a nargilleh, the tobacco for which is 
specially prepared, and I believe comes from Persia. 
Greek-grown tobacco is too dry for use in a pipe, 
which, by the way, is not at all correct, except 
inasmuch as it generally stamps one as an 
Englishman, and so as a 'lordos.' There are no 
native-made cigars, and all that are to be bought 
in Athens are either very dear or very nasty. 

The tobacco -growing provinces are (in order 
of quantity) : /Etolia-Akarnania, Argolis-Korinth, 
Phthiotis-Phokis, Trikkala and Larissa. 

Vegetables. — The Greeks have not yet learned 
to cultivate vegetables in our sense of the word 
'cultivate.' There are a good many — wWd chor- 
taria (herbs), in which they take a predatory 
interest. Athens, under the guidance of tourists 
and Greeks who have travelled, is already making 
a demand for vegetables, which is met pardy 
by the establishment of kitchen-gardens in the 



32 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



suburbs, and partly by importation (400,989 
drachmas' worth in 1890). There are only 
20,000 stremmata of potatoes, which are very 
rarely to be obtained outside the metropolis and 
a few of the big towns. In addition to the 
vegetables mentioned on page 12, there are also 
grown, though not plentifully or everywhere, 
artichoke, asparagus, beet, blite, cabbage, carrot, 
cauliflower, chicory, cress, dill, Jerusalem artichoke, 
kohl rabi, leek, lettuce, onion, parsley, pumpkin, 
purslane, raddish, sorrel, turnip and watercress, 
and a few other species of quite local preference, 
such as CArenos and Bamia. 

The provincial distribution for 1 890 is instructive : 

Value of Value of 

Products in Products per 



I. Mainland: 
Attika-Boiotia ... 
Aitolia-Akarnania 

Arta 

Euboia ... 
Larissa ... 
Trikkala 
Phthiotis-Phokis 



Cultivated 

Land in 

Stremmata. 

1,490,879 

200,152 

626,624 

2,440,803 

1,007,044 

2,361,489 



Drachmas. Stremma. 



18,100,948 
151146,700 
i>4S6,9S9 
11.747,899 
21,188,479 
12,039,654 
13,661,767 



I2'I4 

14-33 
7-27 

1874 
8-68 

"■95 

5-78 



Total 


9,183,956 


93,342,405 


TO"l6 


//. Peloponnesos : 








Argolis-Korinth . . 


1,284,013 


31,755,400 


2473 


Arkadia 


1,393,870 


16,463,726 


1 1 -81 


Achaia-Elis 


782,860 


46,550,793 


59-46 


Lakonia 


800,790 


18,202,750 


22-73 


Messenia 


758,568 


37,348,203 


49-23 



Total 



5,020,101 150,320,872 



29-94 



AGRICULTURE 33 





Cultivated 

Land in 

Stremmata. 


Value of 
Products in 
Drachmas. 


Value of 

Products per 

Stremma. 


///. Kyklades ... 


473.391 


8,928,254 


i8-86 


IV. Ionian Islands ; 








Kerkyra 

Kephallenia 
Zakynthos 


383,224 
418,719 

114.394 

916,337 

15.593.785 


18,806,413 

22,958,990 

8,736.519 


49-07 
54-83 
76-37 


Total 


50,501,922 


55-11 


Grand total 


303,093.460* 


19-43 



Accordingly we see that land produces on an 
average at the present value £2 an acre, the 
variation being between los. in Phthiotis-Phokis, 
and £'] I OS. at Zante. 

The chief products (in order of quantity) in 
each province are : 
Attika-Boiotia — Wine, wheat, grapes, olive - oil, 

cotton. 
Aitolia-Akarnania — Maize, wheat, wine, tobacco, 

olives. 
Arta — Maize. 

Euboia — Wine, wheat, olives, olive-oil, grapes. 
Larissa — Wheat, olives, olive-oil, wine, barley. 
Trikkala — Wheat, maize. 
Phthiotis-Phokis — Wheat, maize, wine. 
Argolis-Korinth — Wheat, wine, currants, grapes, 

olives, barley, maize, olive- oil. 
Arkadia — Wheat, wine, grapes, maize, meslin. 
Achaia Elis — Currants, wine, wheat, maize, 

grapes. 

* Lepta are included only in the grand total. 

3 



34 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

Lakonia — Olives, olive-oil, meslin, wine, wheat. 
Messenia — Currants, wheat, oHve - oil, olives, 

grapes, maize, figs. 
Kyklades — Wine, vegetables. 
Kerkyra — Wine, olive-oil, olives, grapes. 
Kephallenia — Olive-oil, currants, wine, olives. 
Zakynthos — Olives, currants.* 

* Only those products are mentioned which are worth over 
1,000,000 drachmas. 



[35 ] 



CHAPTER III. 

FORESTS. 

Area — Species. 

It is probable that the forests of Greece have 
been growing gradually less ever since the 
original advent of the Pelasgoi. Plato, in the 
' Kritias,' mentions the deforesting of his day. 
And as soon as the Dryads and other wood- 
nymphs lost their sway over the people, there 
was nothing to stop the devastation. Indeed, the 
early Christians made an iconoclastic onslaught 
on such groves as were esteemed sacred, and 
probably looked on all woods as having (in 
Greece) an anti-Christian tendency. There was 
but little change until the arrival of the Turks, 
nor, indeed, then, except with regard to cypresses, 
which are, however, not forest-trees in Greece. 
In 1833 an ordinance of King Otho forbade the 
cutting of timber without permission. In 1835, 
1836, 1838, 1843 and 1856, there was further 
legislation. Attempts were made to place the 



36 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



forest laws on a proper basis in 1856 and 1858, 
but without success. The question was again 
dealt with in 1861, 1876, 1877 and 1882, but 
inefficiently. Last October another endeavour 
was made to grapple with the difficulty, and the 
steps now taken are at least more likely to have 
practical good results than their precursors. There 
are three evils which the State has to overcome : 
first, the almost irrepressible habit which the 
peasants have of helping themselves to firewood 
and small timber for domestic use — a compara- 
tively small evil with a wide area ; second, the 
bleeding of the pines for resin with which to 
flavour the wine, a robbery which is both more 
dangerous and more easily detected, as well as 
being restricted in area ; third, the custom of 
the shepherds to set a forest ablaze in order to 
provide herbage for their goats. It is difficult to 
find words in which to adequately condemn this 
abomination. The country has had to put up 
with the loss of millions of pounds sterling in the 
last thirty years in order that a few score shep- 
herds might gain a few thousand pence. Hymettos 
is already bare. Pentelikon has suffered from two 
serious fires, and Parnes from one, in the last three 
years. And it is the same all over the country. 
The modiis operandi is simple enough. A retired 
glade in the middle of a wood is chosen, some com- 
bustible material arranged under glass, and the 
rest left to the sun. Phoebus — how he must hate 



FORESTS 37 

the work ! And it is very difficult to say how- 
such crime can be detected. At least the punish- 
ment in case of detection should be made strongly 
deterrent. Arson of a royal dockyard is with us 
a capital crime, and the treason to the country is 
no less manifest in this arson of the country itself. 
M. Trikoupes has set apart fifty officers, with a 
proportionate number of soldiers, to the work of 
protecting the forests, and public opinion has 
been strongly roused on their behalf Perhaps 
they will have, after all, to exterminate the goat — 
make him the scapegoat of his owners. 

Area. — The forest area of Greece is at 
present : 



/. Mainland: 






Attika-Boioda 


430,000 1 


stremmata. 


Phthiotis-Phokis ... 


... 1,660,000 


)) 


Euboia 


630,000 


)» 


Larissa 1 






Trikkala \ 


... 2,200,000 


)) 


Arta ' 






Akarnania- Aitolia . . . 


... 1,210,000 


1) 


Total 


... 6,130,000 


jj 


II. Peloponnesos: 






Achaia-Elis 


366,600 


)) 


Arkadia 


618,700 


M 


Argolis-Korinth ... 


319,000 


)» 


Lakonia ... 


588,200 


3> 


Messenia 


... i77>5°° 


)J 


Total 


... 2,070,000 


)) 



There are practically none in the Kyklades and 
Ionian Islands, so the grand total for Greece is 



38 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



8,200,000 stremmata. The chief forest regions 
are the slopes of Pindos, Ossa and PeHon, the 
eparchies of Doris, Naupaktos, Phthiotis, Eury- 
tania, Baltos and Bonitsa on the mainland ; and 
the eparchies of Kynouria, Lakedaimon, Epi- 
dauros Limera, Olympia, Elis, Kalavryta and 
Korinth in the Peloponnesos. The sea-coast is, 
except near Kaiapha, unwooded to a considerable 
distance inland. 

The legitimate consumption of timber has been 
as follows : 







Cubic 


Value in 






Metres. 


Drachmas. 


For ship-build 


ing 


1,860 


158,100 


For household purposes 


52,369 


2,094,760 


For fuel... 




... 214,479 


1,651,488 


Total 


... 268,708 


3,904,348 


Resin 




... 2,925,000 okes. 


885,756 


Tan 




25,041 staters. 


100,164 




jSS6. i8go. 




Cubic 


Value in Cubic 


Value in 




Metres. 


Drachmas. Metres. 


Drachmas. 


For ship.] 
building 1 


252 


21,420 2,606 


221,510 


For house-~j 
hold pur-j- 
poses ' 








43>i32 


1,925,280 62,799 


2,511,960 








For fuel ... 


275,690 
319.074 


2,122,813 232,465 


1,789,980 


Total ... 


4.069,513 297,870 


4-523.440 



Resin ...3,011,0000k. 903,449 3,995,0000k. 1,168,688 
Tan ... 32,961 St. 131,844 80,012 St. 320,048 



FORESTS 



39 



Taking the nine years' average 1882-1890, and 
including valonia and sundry other smaller forest 
products, the yearly production is 9,297,267 
drachmas, which at 4 per cent, represents a 
capital of 232,431,675 drachmas. The real value 
must be very much larger, for there is a great 
deal of contraband firewood and resin. 

45 per cent, of the forest trees are oaks and other broad-leaved 

kinds. 
35 ,, ,, fir and spruce. 

20 ,, ,, pine. 

Species. — The following is a list of the indi- 
genous trees and shrubs. The chief sources of 
this compilation are Smith's 'Flora Grseca,' and 
Von Heldreich's 'Die Nutzpflanzen Griechenlands,' 
and ' Pftanzen der attischen Ebene.' I have in- 
cluded as species a few plants, such as Abies 
RegincB-AmalicE, of which the status does not ap- 
pear to be finally determined. In some cases it has 
been somewhat difficult to decide whether or not a 
plant should be called a shrub ; I have intended 
to exclude all species which are merely suffruti- 
cose or frutescent. In cases of uncertainty as to 
indigeneity, Greece has been allowed the benefit 
of the doubt, as, for instance, Salix Babylonica. 

The species printed in italics are to be found in 
Attika, though not necessarily only in Attika, 
while the remainder are to be found only in other 
parts of Greece. 



4° 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



Order. 
Leguminosse. 



Tree-species. 



Amygdalacese. 



Rosacese. 



Cercis Siliguastrum. 
Ceratonia Siliqua. 
Amygdalus communis. 
Persica vulgaris. 
Pmnus Armeniaca. 

„ avium. 

„ Cerasus. 

,, domes tica. 

„ insititia. 

„ Mahaleb. 

,, pseudo- 

armeniaca. 

, , spinosa. 
Cerasus Caproniana. 

„ L a u r o c e- 
rasus. 

„ prostrata. 



Shrub-species 
Anagyris fcetida. 
Spartium junceum. 
Genista acanthoclada. 

„ candicans. 

„ horrida. 

,, Scorpius. 
Cytisus divaricatus. 

„ sessilifolius. 

,, spinosus. 

„ triflorus. 
Anthyllis Herman- 

nia. 
Medicago arborea. 
Psoralea bituminosa. 
Colutea arborescens. 
Astragalus aristatus. 
Coronilla Emerus. 

„ glauca. 
Alhagi maurorum. 



Rosa canina. 
„ rubiginosa. 
,, spinosissima. 



FORESTS 



41 



Order. 



Pomacese. 



Granatacese. 

Myrtaceae. 

Rutaceee. 



TerebinthaccEe. 



Juglandacese. 
Euphorbiaceae. 



Rhamnacea;. 



Tree-species. 



Cydonia vulgaris. 
Pyrus amygdali- 
formis. 
„ communis. 
,, Malus. 
,, salicifolia. 
Sorbus domestica. 

„ Grseca. 
CratEegus Azareolus. 
Heldreichii. 
monogyna. 
oxyacantha. 
pycnoloba. 
pyracantha 
tanacetifolia. 
Punica Granatum. 
Myrtus communis. 



Pisiacia Lentiscus. 

„ Terebinthus. 
Rhus Coriaria. 
Juglans regia. 



Rhamnus saxatilis. 



Shrub-species. 
Rubus Idseus. 

Poterium spinosum. 



Ruta chalepensis. 

,, divaricata. 

„ graveolens. 
Rhus Cotinus. 
Schinus molle. 



Euphorbia Characias. 

„ dendroides. 

Buxus sempervirens. 

Rhamnus Alaternus. 

alpinus. 

catharticus. 

fallax. 

Graecus. 

infectorius. 

Libanoti- 
cus. 



42 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



Order. 



Tree-species. 



AquifoliaceEe. 
Celastracese. 



Aceraceae. 



Meliacese. 
Auraniiacese. 



Tamaricacese. 
Hypericacese. 

Tiliacese. 

Malvaceae. 

Caryophyllaceae. 
Mesembryaceae. 
Cactacese. 



Ilex Aquifolium. 



Acer Heldreichii. 
,, platanoides. 
„ Reginae-Amalias. 
Melia Azederach. 
Citrus Awajitium. 
,, deliciosa. 
„ Limetta. 
,, Limonium. 
„ vulgaris. 



Shrub-species. 
Rhamnus oleoides. 

,, prunifolius. 

„ pubescens. 

„ rupestris. 

„ Sibthorpi- 
anus. 
Zizyphus Paliurus. 

„ vulgaris. 

Euonymus Euro- 
paeus. 
„ latifolius. 

Acer Creticum. 



Citrus medica. 



Tilia argentea. 
„ Europasa. 
„ microphylla. 



Tamarix Hampeana. 
„ parviflora. 
Hypericum Coris. 
„ etnpetri- 

folium. 



Lavatera arborea. 
Olbia. 
„ unguiculata. 
Dianthus fruticosus. 
Drypis spinosa. 
Mesembryanthemum 

nodifloru7n. 
OpuntiaFicus-Indica. 



FORESTS 



43 



Order. 
Cistacese. 



Tree-species. 



Capparidaceee. 
Cruciferse. 



Berberidacese. 
Ribesiaceae. 



Cornaceae. 

Ampelidacese. 

Umbelliferse. 

Ericaceae. 



Stryacacese. 
Solanaceae 

Boraginaceae. 

Verbenaceae. 



Cornus mas. 



Shrub-species. 
Cistus albidus. 

„ Creticus. 

„ incanus. 

„ Montpelierisis. 

„ parviflorus. 

„ salvifolius. 
Helianthemum Apen- 
ninum. 
„ ellipticutn. 
„ lavandidcefolium. 
„ thymifolium. 
Capparis spinosa. 
Mathiola tristis. 
Alyssum Orientale. 

„ saxatile. 
Cheiranthus Cheiri. 
Berberis cretica. 

„ vulgaris. 
Ribes grossularia. 

„ multiflora. 

„ Uva-crispa. 
Cornus sanguinea. 
Vitis vinifera. 
Bupleurum frutico- 

sum. 
Erica arborea. 

„ carnea. 

„ multiflora. 

„ verticillata. 
Arbutus Andrachne. 

„ Unedo. 
Styrax officinalis. 
Lyciuin Mediter- 

raneum. 
Lithospermum fruti- 

cosum. 
Vitex Agnus- Castus. 



44 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



Order. 
Labiatae. 



Tree-species. 



Gentianacese. 
Asclepiadaceae. 



Apocynacese. 
OleaccEe. 



Oka EuropcEa. 



Shrub-species. 

Lavandula dentata. 
„ Spica. 
„ Sioechas. 

Origanum sipyleum. 

„ Tournefortii. 
Thymus capitatus. 

„ lanceolatus. 

„ vulgaris. 
Satureia nervosa. 

„ Thymbra. 
Thymbra spicata. 
Micromeria Grceca. 
„ Juliana. 

„ plumosa. 

Rosmarinus offici- 
nalis. 
Salvia calycina. 
„ officinalis. 
„ triloba. 
Sideritis candicans. 

„ Taurica. 
Stachys Palasstina. 
Phlomis fruticosa. 
Prasium maius. 
Teucrium brevifolium. 

„ divaricatum. 

„ fiavum. 

„ montanum. 

„ Folium. 
Chironia maritima. 

,, spicata. 
Gomphocarpus fruti- 

cosus. 
Marsdenia erecta. 
Nerium Oleander. 
Fhillyrea latifolia. 

,, media. 



FORESTS 



45 



Order. 
Jasminacese. 
CaprifoliaceEe. 



Rubiaceae. 
Composite. 



Tree-species. 



Elseagnaceae. 
Thymelseacese. 



Elceagnus angustifolia. 



Santalacese. 

Lauraceae. Laurus nobilis. 

Chenopodiacese. 



Salicacese. 



Salix acuminata. 
„ alba. 

„ amplexicaulis. 
„ Babylonica. 
,, cinerea. 



Shrub-species. 
Jasminus fruticans. 
Sambucus nigra. 

„ racemosa. 
Lonicera xylo- 

stemma. 
Viburnus Lantana. 
Rubia tinctorum. 
Inula crithmoides. 
Artemisia arborescens. 
Helichrysum 

Stoechas. 
Stffihelina Chamae- 

peuce. 
Santolina anthe- 

moides. 
Santolina marilima. 

Daphne Alpina. 
,, dioica. 
,, Gnidium. 
„ jasminea. 
„ mezereum. 
„ oleoides. 
Thymelcea hirsiita. 

„ Tartonraira. 
Osyris alba. 

Atriplex Halimus. 
Arthrocnemum fruti- 

cosum. 
Suceda fruticosa. 
Salicornia fruticosa. 
Salix incana. 

,, purpurea. 

,, viminalis. 



46 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



Order. 
Salicacese. 



Urticacese. 



Amentaceae. 



Gnetaceae. 
Conifers 



Tree-species. 
Salix Cyllenea. 
., fragilis. 
„ Helix. 
,, triandra. 
Populus alba. 
Ulmus campestris. 
Celiis australis. 
Moms alba. 
„ nigra. 
Ficus Carica. 
Platanus Orientalis. 
Alnus glutinosa. 
Quercus cegilops. 
„ Ballota. 
„ Calliprinos. 
„ cerris. 
„ coccifera. 
„ congesta. 
„ Esculus. 
„ /lex. 
„ infectoria. 
„ peduncu- 

lata. 
,, pubescens. 
„ sessiliflora. 
Carpinus Betulus. 

„ JDuinensis. 
Ostrya carpinifolia. 
Corylus Avellana. 
„ Colurna. 
Fagus sylvatica. 
Castanea vulgaris. 

Pinus Halepetisis. 

,, Laricio. 

„ pinea. 
Abies Cephalonica. 



Shrub-species. 



Celtis Tournefortii. 



Ephedra distachya. 
Juniperus communis. 

„ drupacea. 

„ foetidissima. 

„ macrocarpa. 



FORESTS 



47 



Order. 


Tree-species.. 


Shrub-species. 


Coniferae. 


Abies Reginae- 
Amaliae. 


Juniperus nana. 




„ Panachaica. 


,, oxycedrus. 




„ pectinata. 


,, Fhxnicea. 




Cupressus semper- 


„ rufescens. 




virens. 


„ sabinoides. 
„ turbinata. 


Palmse. 


Phoenix dactylifera. 




Smilacese. 




Ruscus aculeatus. 


Liliaceae. 




Aloe vulgaris. 



[48 ] 



CHAPTER IV. 

INDUSTRIES. 
Mines — Marble — Salt — Factories — Fishing. 

Mines. — The mineral wealth of Greece is not 
now great, though several of the mines have 
produced large profits during the course of their 
existence. Almost all those at present worked, 
or even known, were worked in classical days. 
The chief minerals are silver, lead, zinc, copper, 
iron, coal, sulphur, magnesia and manganese ; in 
addition, emery, marble, mill-stone, potter's clay, 
gypsum, and several kinds of building-stone are 
found. On most of these a royalty of 1 1 per 
cent, (on the net profit) is paid to the State. This 
yielded last year as follows : 

DracAmas. 

Silver-mines at Laurion (French company) 250,000 

„ „ (Greek „ ) 40,000 

„ Sounion (French „ ) 14,000 

Iron mines at Seriphos and Spelazeze ... 12,000 

„ Daskalion 12,000 

Manganese mine at Bani (in Melos) ... 23,000 



INDUSTRIES 49 



Drachmas. 

Sulphur-mine in Melos ... ... ... 7,000 

Coal-mine at Oropos ... ... ... 330 

Quarries of marble in Euboia ... ... 11,000 

„ millstone and gypsum in 

Melos ... ... ... ... ... 35,000 

Quarries of emery .. . ... ... ... 480,000 

Santorin earth ... ... ... ... 25,000 



Total 



909.33° 



This means a profit of over ^300,000, and a 
very'- considerable employment of labour and 
circulation of money. There are several other 
ventures which do not appear in this list, as, for 
instance, a coal-mine at Kyme, the coal from 
which is used in the manufacture of lime (also 
not included). Magnesia, too, is found in Euboia ; 
and quite lately gold, it is said, has been dis- 
covered near Arta. Manganese is found with the 
iron, (2 to 2\ per cent, of the former to 47 to 49 of 
the latter), and in Spelazeze (14 to 17 per cent, to 
34 to 36), and at Nikias. The Seriphos ore is 
delivered on board ship for 6 francs the ton, that 
from Nii<ias for from 11 to 15 francs. Seriphos 
also produces copper. There is also iron at 
Karystos (in Euboia), and near Monemvasia. 
At Laurion, where the old workings are very 
extensive — as, indeed, we should expect them to 
be from the number of slaves who were employed 
there — they get about 8 lbs. of silver from a ton 
of lead ore, besides about 10 per cent, of lead and 

4 



so GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

a small quantity of zinc. The scoriae, too, thrown 
out from the old operations have paid for the 
working — yielding nearly 5 lbs. of silver per ton 
of ore. Copper is also found at Laurion. The 
sulphur is chiefly used for the vines. Gypsum is 
widely distributed, the best being found on the 
west coast of Melos. The quarries there produce 
5,000 quintals a year, sold for home use in the 
process of wine-making, at 5 drachmas a quintal. 
Millstone is found on the east coast of Melos, 
and is worked in narrow underground galleries. 
It is of excellent quality, better than the Turkish ; 
large ones, 45 centimetres long by 30 broad, sell 
for 6^ drachmas. Emery is found in several of 
the Kyklades, notably in Naxos, the emery from 
the east coast of which, as containing a large pro- 
portion of oxide of alumina, is particularly saleable. 
This set of quarries is estimated to have pro- 
duced 5,000,000 tons up to now. 

The Greek company at Laurion has a capital 
of 20,000,000 drachmas (14,000,000 paid up), 
which consists of 100,000 shares at 200 drachmas 
each. In 1888-89 it paid 1,154,555 drachmas for 
coal (from England), and received 1,921,217 drach- 
mas for ore. It paid 5^ per cent, in 1 887, 6 in 1 888, 
5^ in 1889, 5f in 1890, 5f in 1891. John Carr 
and Co., of Newcastle, are the biggest buyers. 
The French company at Laurion has a capital of 
16,300,000 francs (all paid up), which consists of 
32,600 shares of 500 francs each. The shares 



INDUSTRIES 51 



are not quoted on the Athens Bourse. The 1 89 1 
'dividend was 8 per cent. 
Exports : 

iS/i. 1882. 1887. i8go. 

Drachmas. Drachmas. Drachmas. Drachmas. 

Lead ... 8,574-100 12,669,351 17,638,382! ^^^^ 

Other metals 10,200 741,568 4,324,414) ' ' 

Emery ... 831,350 127,500 370,739 366,360 

Santorin earth — — (in 1889) 373,838 
Marble ) 

(worked)) ~ - ~ 40,75° 
Marble (un- } 

worked) [ - - - 212,030 

About half of the lead and other ores goes to 
England, nearly a third to Belgium, nearly an 
eighth to France, and smaller quantities to Italy 
and the United States. Holland and England 
are the only considerable purchasers of emery. 
Turkey buys marble and Santorin earth. 

Marble does not receive the attention it 
deserves, except in the antique, although 
(perhaps because) Greece is almost made of 
marble. The most famous kinds are Parian, of 
fine grain (the statue-stone), Pentelic (the temple- 
stone, e.g., the Parthenon), and Hymettan, bluish- 
gray (the cemetery-stone). White marble is also 
" found at Naxos, Tenos, Skyros, and several other 
places ; gray at Stoura and Karystos ; red at 
Trisboukai ; variegated at Karystos and Valaxa ; 
and green on Taygetos. 

In spite of all this wealth at hand, and large 



52 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



quantities of granite, etc., to boot, Greece imports 
the latter stone from Asia Minor, and even 
6,000,000 francs' worth of lava (in one year) 
from Italy. Potters' clay is found at Ambelo- 
kepi, Kalogreza and Koukouvaonai ; red clay at 
Dolyand, and in Seriphos. 

Salt. — There are twelve salt-works in Greece, 
the chief ones at Anabyssos, Leukas and 
Mesolonghi, which provide from 12,000,000 to 
14,000,000 okes of salt yearly, satisfactorily 
meeting the internal demand. It further, being 
a monopoly, brought in 2,300,000 drachmas in 
1 89 1 to the State, and probably rather more 
last year. The price is fixed by statute (1886) 
at 15 lepta the oke, or about a halfpenny a pound. 

Factories. — In addition to the manufactures 
already mentioned, or which may appear in the 
export-tables, there are industries indispensable 
to civilization, the products of which Greece had 
to go without not so very long ago for want of 
machinery : 



1S76. 



i88g. 



1892. 



Num- Horse- Num- Horse- Num- Horse- 
ber. power. ber power. ber. power. 



Flour-mills 
Spinning-mills . . . 
Machine-factories 


35 

14 

9 


658 

512 
88 


79 

14 

6 


1,584 

1,576 

710 


Detailed re- 


Crushing-mills ... 
Tanning-mills ... 
Powder-factory . . . 
Various... 


4 

3 

I 

29 


69 
38 

45 
557 

1,967 


14 
3 

I 
28 

145 


92 
49 
(?) 
1,557 

5,568 


turns not yet 
available. 


Total 


about 
10,000 



INDUSTRIES 53 

Their total present capital value is 41,818,000 
drachmas. By far the greatest number are in 
Attika-Boiotia, especially at the Peiraius and 
Levadeia. Next comes the monarchy of Larissa, 
with the mills chiefly at Tolchos (shades of J ason ! 
though luckily they are for flour, except one 
candle-factory) and Volo. There are also four- 
teen at Hermoupolis (in Syros). 

Tanned hides are sent to Austria and Turkey, 
and untanned to Turkey and France. The 
amounts exported were, in 1892, up to August 
31, tanned, 333,317 drachmas. The export of 
untanned hides seems to be diminishing. 

There is a small export of carpets. 

The soap trade is also flourishing, although the 
Greeks who live outside the towns do not use 
soap much. They wash certainly, and wash fre- 
quently, but either at a fountain or in a running 
stream, or by pouring water over their hands, etc., 
in the true Oriental way. The soap export last 
year (up to August 31) was 381,579 drachmas. 

Fisheries. — Having an extraordinary length of 
coast-line, Greece is well provided with fishing- 
boats. 



Forts. 


Fishing- 
boats. 


Tonnage. 


Fisher- 
men. 


Mainland with its islands 24 


570 


1,879 


1,868 


Peloponnesos „ 17 


731 


2,861 


3-142 


Kyklades 17 


294 


752 


733 


Ionian Islands ... 12 


96 


286 


319 



Total 70 1,691 5,778 6,062 



54 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



The fishermen of the Kyklades thus have 0-97 men per ton. 



Mainland 


J) 


o*99 » 


Peloponnesos 


)) 


1-09 


Ionian Islands 


)) 


I'll 


Peloponnesos 


J) 


3-91 tons per boat 


Mainland 


J» 


3'29 


Ionian Islands 


,j 


2'97 


Kyklades 


») 


2-55 



One is not astonished at finding the men from 
the Kyklades the most energetic sailors, but it is 
rather surprising to find them, most exposed to 
bad weather, with the smallest boats, though this 
is perhaps accounted for by a larger proportion of 
their boats being engaged in the sponge-fishery, 
which employs altogether 300 boats in Greek 
waters. The leading fishing-ports are : 





Fishing- 
boats. 


Tonnage. 


Fishermen. 


Hydra 


300 


i,i8o 


1,600 


Mesolonghi ... 


200 


600 


250 


Kranidi 


125 


51° 


55° 


Hermione ... 


100 


500 


300 


Aigina 


90 


360 


600 


Spetsai 


88 


264 


280 


Peiraius 


75 


210 


221;* 



Besides the deep-sea fishing, there are eighty- 
four fishing-stations (including fresh-water), which 
are owned by the State and leased for from one 
to five years. The rents are very low, amounting 
last year only to 475,000 drachmas. The best 



* The statistics in the ' Panhellenian Companion ' were com- 
piled by M. Nikolaos Apostolides. 



INDUSTRIES 



55 



fishing-grounds are those of Agoulinitsa, Kaiapha, 
Basiladi, Poros, Prokopanistos, Mouria and Klei- 
sova (which is one of the thirteen at Mesolonghi, 
by far the richest centre, with 4,000,000 strem- 
mata preserved). Lake Kopais, before it was 
drained, was also remarkable for its eels, as in 
antiquity. 

Botargo is manufactured in large quantities 
from the roe of mullet caught at Mesolonghi, 
there being also an inferior kind (rephoudi) 
prepared there from the roe of the laurax. The 
principal fish found in the Greek markets are 
appended ; the table shows how many have the 
same names now on the lips of the fisherman as 
they had in classical times. The proportion is 
noticeably large, and is claimed by modern Greeks 
as one of the proofs of continuity of descent. 



English. 


Ancient Greek. 


Modern Greek. 


Anchovy. 


Eyypa.uXig. 


Xtt'vJ/i. 


Bass. 


AdISpaS.. 


Aa/3^ax;. 


Bonito. 


T6fi(f)i>g. 


To[j(f)aiva. 


Braize. 


'Pdypoe. 


<^ay%p\. 


Bull-head. 


Ks(f>a.'Koi. 


K's(f}aXo^. 


Cod. 


SxuAaf. 


'SKuXo-^apa. 


Conger. 


Voyypoi. 


Voyypiov. 


Cuttle-fish. 


^tivia. 


Kakafj-dpi. 


Eel. 


"Eyx^Xo^- 


XeXu. 


„ (small). 


BiXovr}. 


'BiXoviTo-a. 


Eel-pout. 


TaXibg. 


VaXrih. 


Flying-fish. 


Xi'kidiiti. 


XiXiboMO-^apov. 


Gar- fish. 


Zapyotrj. 


Zapyiuva. 
Zapydva. 


Gilt-head. 


Xp{jSo(j)pu';. 


Xpva-6<f>a, 



S6 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



English. 


Ancient Greek. 


Modern Greek. 


Grayling. 


\ 2>t;os. ) 
1 f.xia.iia. 1 


Muoxom. 


Gudgeon. 


I Ka)/3;Jc. ' 


Kw/3;o5. 


Herring. 


@fiasoc. 


(ppia-cra. 


Hog-fish. 


'S.MfJTaita. 


2xopmiia. 


John-dory. 


ZEi)s. 


Xpicrro^ctpov. 


Lamprey. 


( Mupaiva. 
( 'S/Lvpaiva (in 


Plato), l^'^^^"- 


Mackerel. 


Sy-d/jt/Sfos. 


Sseou^TfL 


Mormyrus. 


Mop/JifUpoq. 


Movpfiovpa. 


Oblada. 


MiXdvoupoq. 


MiXavoupi. 


Octopus. 


noXiiTous. 


' Oxra'Troii. 


Parrot-fish. 


Sxapos. 


'Xxdpoq. 


Perch. 


nepyiri. 


U'lpxa. 


Pickerel. 


' AOipttri. 


' AOepita. 


Pike. 


'S.^hpaiva. 


^cjjupaiva. 


Plaice. 


"Taim. 


Ouyaiva. 


Red Gurnet. 


'Epudpivo';. 


AiOpivi. 


Red Mullet. 


TpiryXri. 


M'rup,u,'!ro{'H. 


Salpa. 


SaXcr;). 


idXira. 


Sardine. 


l.apdTvo's. 


'SapdeXXa. 


Scad. 


SaC^os. 


'Sauptdi. 


Seabream. 


Sto^os. 


'Smpo^;. 


Sea-perch. 


"Of^os. 


'Po(^os. 


Sea-scorpion. 


'Sxop'nioq. 


Sxopmos. 


Sea-urchin. 


'Ep^^os. 


'A^/i'OS. 


Serranus. 


1 Xai/os. 1 


Xaws. 


Shad. 


TlriXafih. 


naXa//.;'3a. 


Shanny. 


SXhvios. 


2aX;af)js. 


Shark. 


SsXa^os. 


^iXd^i. 


J) 


Zvyaita. 


Ziiyaiva. 


)» 


' Viva,. 


'Viva. 


Sheep's head. 


'Sapyb's. 


'S.apyo's. 


Skate. 


BotWs. 


Ban. 


Smelt. 


1//.apls. 


Maplha. 





INDUSTRIES 


57 


English. 


Ancient Greek, 


Alodern Greek. 


Sole. 


YriTTa. 


TT^ucrcra. 


Sword-fish. 


Hi<j>ia's. 


Bi(j)ioq. 


Tooth-shell. 


Imaypls. 


ImoLyfiba. 


Torpedo. 


'iHapxri. 


Movdida-Tpa. 


Tunny. 


©uvvss. 


My.yiuTixov. 


(species). 




Tovtva. 


3) H 


KoA/a?. 


KoX/os. 


J» )) 


'OpKum. 


'Opxmo'i. 


Weever. 


Apdxaim. 


Apdxaiva. 



6' 7 
Fishing is carried on much as in ancient times, 

various descriptions of nets being used, as well as 
harpoons (tridents) and lamps. At Mesolonghi 
they enclose the fish with hurdles about the 
middle of May, but it is complained that the 
hurdle-meshes are too small, and that conse- 
quently the fishery is threatened with extinction — 
a complaint not dissimilar to one we sometimes 
hear nearer home. 

The export of prepared fish is quite new, 1889 
being the first year; there were then 43,830 
drachmas' worth exported ; in 1 890, 74, 1 74 
drachmas. 

Per contra, there is a large import of prepared 
fish, especially caviar, which is very popular. 
The value was : 

Prepared Fish. Caviar. 

1871 ... 2,351,853 drachmas. 493,995 drachmas. 
1887 ... 3,880,444 „ 885,227 

1890 ... 5)178,317 drachmas (combined). 

The prepared fish comes chiefly from England, 



S8 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

Italy and Turkey, and the caviar almost entirely 
from Russia. 

There is also a small export trade in sponges : 



I87I 


606,040 drachmas. 


1882 


381,692 


1887 


••• 2,073,324 


1890 


... 1,959,220 



England takes more than half of this total, 
France about a sixth, and Austria, Turkey, the 
United States, Italy and Russia, the remainder. 



[59 



CHAPTER V. 

COMMERCE 
Shipping — Imports and Exports. 

Shipping. — Perhaps the most hopeful sign of 
the actual and potential progress of Greece is 
the steady development of her carrying-power 
and carrying-trade. Before the revolution she 
had about 60,000 tons, but was left in 1833 with 
very few ships, Galaxidi, for instance, being re- 
duced from 250 ships to ninety. In 1891 she had 
reached a total of ninety-three steamboats of 
46,688 tons, and 4,772 sailing vessels of 228,976 
tons, distributed as follows : 

Tonnage. 

93^136 
24,81 I 

10,393 

i9>4i5 
3.319 
9,442 

S>736 

9-135 
8,899 

7.53° 





Steamers. 


Tonnage. 


Sailing- 
ships. 


Syros 


. 28 


15.234 


632 


Peiraius .. 


■ 33 


IO-57S 


368 


Argostoli.. 


■ 14 


10,214 


133 


Galaxidi .. 


. — 


— 


222 


Ithaka . . 


10 


6,127 


161 


Spetsai . 


. — 


— 


308 


Andres . . 


■ 5 


3,668 


106 


Thera 




— 


122 


Zakynthos 


— 


— 


137 


Kerkyra .. 


I 


780 


247 



Total 
Skips. 

660 


Total 
Tonnage. 

108,370 


401 


35,386 


147 


20,607 


222 
171 


19,415 
9,446 


308 


9,442 


III 


9,404 


122 
137 


9,13s 
8,899 


248 


8,310 



6o GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

After these come (in order of total tonnage) 
Hydra, Skiathos, Patras, Skopelos, Kyme, 
Chalkis, Volo, Cheli, Poros, Trikkeri, Leukas, 
Mesolonghi, Tsagesi, Kythera, Zagora, Melos, 
Lexouri, Mykonos, Nea Psara, Amorgos, Boiai, 
Nea Mizele, Pylos, Kalamai, and Paxos. 

Twenty-eight of the steamers belong to the 
three passenger companies : Hellenic (fourteen), 
Panhellenian (nine), Goudi (five). The number 
of steamers increases somewhat rapidly, some 
being built in the Peiraius )ards of McDowell 
and Barbour, and the Basiliades Company, while 
the majority are constructed in Great Britain, 
1 1,8 1 2 tons (steam), in 1 891, at West Hartlepool 
and Dundee, and 14,954 tons (steam), in 1892, 
at Sunderland, Middlesbrough, and Dundee. 

Messrs. McDowell and Barbour built twenty- 
six steamers, of 2,203 tons, and 2,956 horse- 
power, last year. There are also chantiers for 
sailing-ships at Peiraius (two), Syros, Spetsai, 
and Galaxidi, the Galaxidiotika Karabia being 
very well known. 

The total number of men employed at sea is 

30,147: 

Men. 

Mainland 6,650 

Peloponnesos (of which total Hydra, 

Spetsai and Poros supply 8,277) ■•• 10,807 

Kyklades 5,643 

Ionian Islands ... ... ... .. 6,997 

The ports principally contributing are : 





COMMERCE 


6i 






Men. 


Hydra ... 




■■■ 3.39° 


Spetsai ... 




... 3,271 


Kephallenia 




... 2,789 


Syros 




1,962 


Galaxidi 




... 1,769 


Poros . . . 




... 1,596 


Thera ... 




i>S79 


Cheli ... 




1,439 


Kerkyra 




1,300 



However, the 6,062 fishermen before referred 
to are included in this total of 30,147, and making 
allowance for those not entirely pursuing a sea- 
faring life, the actual number of sailors may be 
set down at about 20,000, of whom about 5 per 
cent, are masters, about 22 per cent, officers and 
pilots, and 26 per cent, apprentices. 

The number of ships entering and clearing 

Greek ports (exclusive of the coasting trade) 

was : 

1888. 
Tons. 



English 

Austrian 

Italian 

French 

Turkish 

Egyptian 

Total (foreign) 
Greek 

Total 



T, 016,112 
962,013 
612,175 
780,722 

230,434 
201,084 



i88g. 

Tons. 

1,088,459 

921,575 
732,992 
588,885 
322,256 
210,558 



i8go. 
Tons. 



1,242,957 
933,129 
794.194 
635,813 
224,847 
207,810 



4,089,678 4,137,346 4,233,150 
698,491 699,492 653,793 



4,788,169 4,836,838 4886,943 

As last year's returns are not yet complete, we 
can compare them only with the same period of 



62 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



the preceding year (1891). The ships entering 
between January i and August 31 were : 





Greek. 


Foreign. 




Ships. 


Tons. 


Ships. 


Tons. 


I89I 


1,261 


184,670 


2,324 


1,421,405 


1892 


1,623 


235,202 


3,997 


1,254.744 


;re cleared . 










1891 


1,187 


194,631 


2,152 


1,376,073 


1892 


1,422 


243,003 


3,775 


1,085,905 



The country from and to which the ships sailed 
is perhaps as instructive as the flag (1890 
figures) : 





Greek 


Foreign. 


Total. 




Tons. 


Tons. 


Tons. 


Turkey . 


... 332,218 


1,826,970 


2,159,188 


Italy 


39,457 


817,482 


856,939 


England . 


32,973 


598,292 


631,265 


Austria . 


76,122 


394,188 


470,310 


France . 


20,303 


264,665 


284,968 



It must not be forgotten that there are im- 
portant lines of passenger steamers to all these 
countries except England, which has hardly any 
direct passenger communication. It is in this 
way, too, that a good deal of the Italian, Austrian, 
French, and Egyptian trade in the table on the 
preceding page is accounted for. About 40 per 
cent, of the tonnage comes to the Peiraius, 20 per 
cent, to Syros, 18 per cent, to Kerkyra, and 5 per 
cent, to Patras. 25 per cent, of the total tonnage 
sails under the English flag, all the same to 



COMMERCE 63 



19 per cent. Austrian, 16 per cent. Italian, 13 per 
cent. French, 4 per cent. Turkish, 4 per cent. 
Egyptian, and 1 3 per cent. Greek. 

In addition we must notice the Greek shipping 
on the Danube and Pruth, which has lately made 
great strides. There are now in this trade 722 
ships, of 261,333 tons, owned by Greece, to 121 
ships, of 56,840 tons, owned by other countries. 
The inhabitants of Ithaka hold two-thirds, and 
the Kephallenians a quarter, of the tonnage. 
There is a detailed account of the Danubian 
trade, by M. N. I. Spandones, in this year's 
' Panhellenian Companion.' 

There can thus be no doubt about the growth 
of the Greek mercantile marine and the extension 
of its operations. The Greeks are essentially a 
seafaring people, and are capital seamen, prob- 
ably surpassed only by our countrymen. They 
possess an admirable mixture of caution and 
daring, with a happy fertility of resource in 
emergency. Their position between the East 
and the West must always give them great 
opportunities. I am not at all sure that their 
present success would not be enormously increased 
if they could dare and afford to adopt the prin- 
ciples of Free Trade. Again, as soon as they 
are connected with the trunk lines of Europe, 
which unfortunately rather depends on the 
reforming capacity of the ultra-Conservative 
Turk, the Peiraius ought to supplant Brindisi, and 



64 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



an immense gain accrue to Greece generally, as 
well as to her shipping. 

Imports and Exports. — There is not that 
regularity about Greek commerce which we find 
in that of countries of a maturer civilization. Nor 
does it vary in the pendulum fashion that older 
countries are becoming habituated to. War-fever, 
election-fever, and the depression that follows a 
bad season, are the main causes of its frequent 
downs ; when any two of these causes occur 
simultaneously the downward tendency is very 
alarming ; the ups are its normal state. 



Imports. 



Drachmas. 



Per 



Head. 

1887 ... 131,749,325 62 

1888 ... 109,149,182 50 

1889 ... 132,653,248 60 

1890 ... 120,785,604 55 



Exports. 



Drachmas. 



Per 
Head. 

102,652,477 48 

95.653,741 45 
107,077,708 49 

9S>79i>684 44 



1887 
1888 
1889 
1890 



Total. 

Drachmas. 

234,401,802 
204,802,923 
240,431,056 
216,577,288 



Per 
Head. 

no 

95 
109 

99* 



The next table shows the yield to the State 
from this source : 



* The complete tables for 1891 and 1892 I have not been 
able to obtain. 



COMMERCE 6s 



Import Dues. Export Dues. 

Drachmas. Drachmas. 

1887 26,675,304 2,436,785 

1888 25,472,810 1,981,839 

1889 24,012,146 2,557,676 

1890 24,393,046 1,826,233 

These figures do not quite correspond with the 
preceding, partly because the duties have been 
somewhat reduced, and partly because they are 
being gradually better collected. 

Import Duties. — It would be quite useless to 
wade through the thirty-six pages of dutiable 
articles (including a few undutiable ones, how- 
ever), but we may learn something of value from 
a brief list of the more important. These include 
carriages (8), clocks {7), corn (13), dairy pro- 
duce (12), drugs (2), fish (10), furniture (5), glass 
(4), metals (3), musical instruments (6), paper (i), 
pottery (9), and timber (11). In the present state 
of Greek industry, there are obvious reasons 
besides that of finding revenue why these are 
maintained. At the same time, I think the duties 
might be gradually decreased and dropped — I 
should suggest in the order indicated by the 
bracketed figure which follows the subject of the 
duty. 

Export dues are levied only on glass, olives, 
rak6 (a liqueur), and silver. 

5 



66 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



We next 


see from 


what counties Greec 


imports : 










Z<?c?c?. 


i88g. 


i8go. 




Drachmas. 


Drachmas. 


Drachmas. 


England 


28,909,879 


29,610,062 


33,237.305 


Russia 


25.320.147 


25,985,680 


2 £,407,668 


Turkey 


12,856,504 


25,014,024 


18,923,826 


Austria 


15.755,000 


18,636,200 


16,690,484 


France 


10,932.663 


",637,874 


10,255,099 


Germany 


4,064,951 


4,715,667 


5,651,066 


Italy 


4,139,525 


5,016,201 


5,109410 


Belgium 


2,048,257 


2,724,856 


4,008,900 


Holland 


79,869 


2,907.102 


1,861,010 


Unite(3 States 


1,890,837 


3,200,190 


[,667,101 


Other countrie 


5 3,201,938 


3,205,402 


1,915,496 



Total 



109,149,182 132,653,248 120,785,604 



This is equivalent to : 







1888. 




i88g. 


i8go. 


England 


.. 26 


per cent. 


22 


per cent. 


28 per cent 


Russia 


... 23 


., 


20 


J, 


17 „ 


Turkey 


12 


,' 


20 


J, 


16 „ 


Austria 


.. 14 


,. 


14 


J, 


14 


France 


10 


,, 


9 


,, 


8 „ 



The steady progress of England, Germany, and 
Belgium, the decided retrogression of France and 
Russia, and the utter instability of the Turkish 
trade, are the obvious lessons, which might be 
profitably noted here as well as in Greece. 

The principal articles of import were : 





COMMERCE 


67 




1888. 


i8go. 


Provenance 
(chiefly). 




Drachmas. 


Drachmas. 




Cereals 


30,803,926 


29,183,010 


Russia. 


Cotton and linen 


1 22,828,892 






goods 


22,272,276 


England. 


Metals (worked) ... 


3.624,932 


8,200,663 


,, 


„ (unworked) 


1,716,523 


4,136,571 


,, 


Timber 


6,902,483 


6,948,024 


Austria. 


Prepared fish 


4,193,298 


5,178,317 


England. 


Drugs and chemical. 


i 1,677,681 


5,094,881 


,, 


Hides (tanned) .. 


1,594,359 


1,225,891 


France. 


„ (untanned) 


3,311,773 


3,544,820 


,, 


Cattle 


1,910,617 


4,312,300 


Turkey. 


Sugar 


3,473,614 


3,134,982 


Austria. 


Coflfee 


3,040,962 


2,960,270 


United States. 


Rice 


2,083,150 


2,047,132 


Italy. 


Paper 


1,137,417 


1,847,868 


Austria. 


Glass and earthen 
ware 


'1 1,433,231 


1,435,898 


Belgium. 


Butter 


— 


693,076 


Italy. 


Hats 


732,839 


660,049 


Austria. 


Cheese 


— 


425,830 


Turkey. 


Vegetables 


— 


400,989 


,, 


Umbrellas, etc. .. 


— 


355,328 


Austria. 


Wine and spirits .. 


— 


312,512 


France. 


Furniture 


— 


202,769 


Austria. 


Gloves 


— 


44,537 


,, 


Machines ... 


726,815 


— 


Germany. 


Lamps 


— ■ 


— 


France. 


Cotton 


1,394,374 


— 


Turkey. 


Petroleum 


— 


— 


United States. 



The exports have been already dealt with 
under the guise of products, but it is interesting 
to compare the importing capacity of the different 
commercially Philhellenic nations : 



68 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



England 

France 

Turkey 

Austria 

Belgium 

United States 

Holland 

Egypt 

Germany 

Italy 

Russia 

Other countries 

Total . . . 



1888. 

Drachmas. 

40,613,881 

17,906,047 
4,062,695 
7,668,312 

10,165,154 
4,711,116 
2,384,136 

i-9S5.°58 
3,466,289 

908,436 
1. 341,526 

471,091 



1889. 

Drachmas. 

32,757,380 

32,506,847 

9,908,907 

8,728,229 

7_^25 1,098 

37032,164 

3,040,544 

2,231,052 

2,505,881 

3,379,528 
1,878,807 

559,371 



i8po. 
Drachmas. 
33,021,416 

21,439,567 
9,877,429 
8,598,186 
6,008,309 
5,702,082 

3,177,574 
2,804,168 

2,371,944 

1,518,070 

917,280 

355,659 



95,653,741 107,777,808 95,791,654 



Which is equivalent to : 



England 

France 

Turkey 

Austria 

Belgium 

United States 



1888. 
42 per cent. 
19 

4 

8 
II 

4 



i88g. 
30 per cent. 
3° 
9 



1 8^0. 
34 per cent. 
22 
10 

9 
6 

6 



The total trade for 1890 is thus 



England 

France 

Turkey 

Austria 

Russia 

Belgium 

Germany ... 

United States 

Italy 



Imports. 

Drachi7ias. 

33,237,305 
10,255,099 
18,923,826 
16,690,484 
21,407,668 
4,008,900 
5,651,066 
1,667,101 
5,109,410 



Exports. 
Drachmas . 
33,021,416 

21,439,567 

9,877,429 

8,598,168 

917,280 

6,008,309 

2,37^,944 
5,702,082 
1,518,070 



distributed : 

Total. ^f " 
centage. 

Drachmas. 

66,258,721 31 

31,694,667 15 

28,801,255 13 

25,288,670 12 

22,324,948 10 

10,017,209 5 

8,023,010 4 

7,369.183 3 
6,627.480 3 





COMMERCE 


69 


Our dealings 


with the small 


Balkan powers 


are : 








Imports 


Exports 




from England. 


to England. 




£ 


£ 


Bulgaria 


121,641 


126,87s 


Roumania ... 


,••■ 1. 739.712 


5,038,091 


Servia • ... 


172,920 


4,400 



There are two kinds of moral in these figures, 
the purely commercial and the political. In the 
first place we see that the trade between Greece 
and England is of very great importance to 
Greece (and not unimportant to England), more 
than twice as important as that with any other 
country ; that Greece imports immensely more 
from Russia than she exports to her ; that the 
same fact is true, in a less degree, of her business 
with Turkey, Austria, Germany, and Italy ; that 
the opposite is true in the case of France and the 
United States. In other words, as far as gold is 
concerned, her English trade, while in other ways 
extremely valuable, leaves her neither richer nor 
poorer ; Russia drains her of gold heavily, while 
Turkey, Austria, Germany, and Italy, also bleed 
her considerably ; France and the United States 
supply her with gold. As to the English trade, 
it ought largely to increase, not only through 
the abolition of our currant-duty, but through our 
buying Greek tobacco and wine directly from 
Greece, instead of through Turkish and French 
middlemen. A little more pushing on the part 



70 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

of the Greeks might induce us to buy their olive- 
oil, which is quite equal to a good deal of the 
Italian oil sold here ; their figs, which are not 
much inferior to Turkish figs, and might be a little 
cheaper ; and more of their sponges and olives. 
On the other hand, we ought to sell to Greece 
much more machinery (notably plant for the new 
Peiraius-Larissa Railway), more metal, more drugs 
(for their sake as well as our own, as our drugs 
are so much more reliable than those of other 
countries ; of this quinine is a familiar illustration), 
and more paper ; that which is obtainable at 
present is Austrian, and of very inferior quality. 
We ought also to send them furniture, of which 
there is a great dearth, and hats, the Austrian 
headgear so prevalent being neither artistic nor 
durable. 

The political moral is seen in the following 
table, which shows the population per cent, of the 
total trade with Greece of the two great groups of 

States : 

1888. i88g. i8go. 

England and Triple Alliance... 50 43 50 

France and Russia ... ... 27 29 25 

It should be as easy as alpha, beta, gamma, for 
Greece to see which way her interests lie. There 
is not only the direct money gain which they 
pocket as producers, and the indirect money gain 
from additional facilities of consumption. ' There 
is, and no doubt they will see that it is still more 



COMMERCE 71 



important, the gradual building up of their 
financial position, so that they may be ready to 
retake after so many centuries their place amongst 
the nations. Furthermore, there is the sympathy 
of the big peace alliance, by which, and by which 
alone, as far as one can see, especially in view of 
the recent revelation of Austrian policy, they will 
be able to assert this their right. If England 
and her peace-mates have had half the trade of an 
indifferent Greece, what an amount of business 
would be done between them if Greece made it a 
matter of policy ! Bating free trade, indeed, it 
might not be a bad thing for Greece to join the 
new commercial league of the Triple Alliance, 
although, as England is her chief client-patron, it 
would be obviously foolish to have tariffs which 
would prejudice British goods. 



[ r- ] 



CHAPTER VI. 

BUSINESS. 
Public Companies — Employment. 

Public Companies. 

/. — Banks. 
There are six banking companies in Greece, 
viz. : 

I. The National Bank of Greece, with its 
headquarters in Athens ; established March 30, 
1 84 1. Capital, 20,000,000 drachmas, in 20,000 
shares of 1,000 drachmas each ; reserve fund, 
14,848,220 drachmas. Dividend payable January 
15 and July 15. Value of share 1,000 drachmas, 
present price, 3,670 drachmas. There are branches 
in all the chief towns of Greece. The last 
dividend was 3^ per cent. It has banknotes to 
the amount of 77,994,240 drachmas, and indulges 
in three lotteries a year. It charges up to 8 per 
cent, interest, though legally-established corpora- 
tions, such as demes, are let off with 7 per 
cent. 



BUSINESS 73 



2. The Ionian Bank, Limited, with its head- 
quarters in London, and an important branch in 
Athens, and others in the Ionian Islands ; estab- 
lished in 1839. Capital, ^315,507 los., in 12,620 
three-tenth shares of ^25 each. 

3. Chartered Bank of Epiro-Thessaly, with its 
headquarters at Volo, and branches at Athens 
and throughout Northern Greece ; established 
January 25, 1882. Capital, 20,000,000 drachmas 
(of which 5,000,000 drachmas paid up), in 40,000 
shares of 500 drachmas each. Reserve fund, 
240,618 drachmas. Dividend payable January 15 
and July 15. Value of share, 125 drachmas; 
present price, 264 drachmas. The last divi- 
dend was 7^ drachmas. It has banknotes to the 
amount of 4,405,573 drachmas. 

The small notes (included above) in circulation 
are : 

• Two- Drachmas . Drachmas. 

National Bank 3,666,667 3,666,666 

Ionian Bank 1,666,667 1,666,666 

Epiro-Thessalian Bank ... 1,666,667 1,666,668 

4. General Credit Bank of Greei^e, with its 
headquarters at Athens; established in 1874. 
Capital, 25,000,000 drachmas (of which 15,000,000 
drachmas paid up), in 50,000 shares of 500 
drachmas each. Dividend payable January 15 
and July 15. Value of share, 300 drachmas ; 
present price, 24 drachmas. The last dividend was 
5 drachmas. Owing to a system of withdrawal 



74 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



and cancelling, the real paid-up capital is only 
equivalent to 3,000,000 drachmas. 

5. Industrial Credit Bank of Greece, with its 
headquarters at Athens; established in 1875. 
Capital, 10,000,000 drachmas (all paid up), in 
100,000 shares of 100 drachmas each. Dividend 
payable January 20 and July 20. Value of share, 
100 drachmas ; present price, 61 -^ drachmas. The 
last dividend was 2 drachmas. 

6. Bank of Constantinople, with its head- 
quarters at Constantinople, and a branch office at 
Athens; established in 1876. Capital, ^T66o,ooo 
(all paid up), with a reserve fund of ^T 108,000, 
100,000 shares of £T6 12s. each. Many of the 
shareholders are Greeks. 

Bulgaria has one bank, Roumania three, and 
Servia five. 

//. — Other Companies. 

Administration of Monopolies of Greece Com- 
pany, with its headquarters at Athens ; established 
in 1887. Capital 10,000,000 drachmas (of which 
2,500,000 drachmas paid up) in 20,000 shares 
of 500 drachmas each. Reserve fund, 30,000 
drachmas. Dividend for the first six months of 
1 892 %\ per cent. 

Public and Communal Works Company, with 
its headquarters at Athens ; established in 1882. 
Capital, 5,000,000 drachmas (of which 4,000,000 
drachmas paid up), in 10,000 shares of 500 



BUSINESS 75 

drachmas each. Reserve fund, 180,000 drachmas. 
Present price of shares, 58 drachmas. 

General Contract Company, with headquarters 
at Athens ; established in April, 1888. Capital, 
2,500,000 drachmas, in 12,500 shares of 200 
drachmas each. Dividends — ^1888, 10 per cent. ; 
1889, 7^ per cent.; 1890, 12^ per cent. ; 1891, 
15 per cent 

The principal insurance companies represented 
in Greece are the Adriatic Insurance Company (of 
Trieste), and the General Insurance Company 
(of Trieste) ; the Commercial Union, Equitable, 
London and Lancashire, Phoenix and Sun (Eng- 
lish companies) ; the Confianceand Union (French 
companies) ; German Lloyd and Mannheim (Ger- 
man companies); the New York ; and the Anchor 
and Phcenix (Greek companies). 

The railway and steamship companies will be 
dealt with on page 84 s^. 

Gas and electric light are supplied in Athens, 
the latter by the Contract Company, the former 
by the Athens Gas Company, which has a capital 
of nearly 2,500,000 drachmas. 

There are five monopolies ■ — cigarette-paper, 
playing-cards, matches, petroleum, and salt. 

Employment. 
The following table shows the employment, 
chiefly of the heads of families, at different 
periods : 



76 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



Farmers 
Shepherds 
Labourers (men) 
Labourers 
(women) 

Total 



Artisans 
Business men 
Engineers 
Sailors . . . 



Agriculture. 

i8s3. 1861. 1870. iSjg. i88g. 

229,259 147,507 218,027 207,846 270,363 

— 38,953 44.532 46,645 60,705 

— 19,592 22,665 38,234 49,749 

— — 5,735 4,732 6,132 



229,259 206,052 290,959 

Commerce. 
1853. 1861. 1870. 
25,546 32,801 48,129 
6,280 10,245 18,952 

26,302 19,303 25,178 



297,457 386,949 

i87gi. i88g. 

44,959 58,565 

34,333 43,892 

705 924 

21,337 21,706 



Total 



58,128 62,349 92,259 
Domestic Service. 



101,334 125,087 





1853- 


i86i. 


1870. 


1879. 


i88g. 


Agogiats 


— 


2,307 


3,276 


2,445 


3,019 


Servants (men) ... 


— 


12,651 


17,482 


25,437 


33,074 


„ (women) 




7,724 


10,808 


5,598 
33-480 


20,670 


Total 


22,682 


31,566 


56,763 




Professions 










1853- 


1861. 


1870. 


1879. 


1889. 


Artists 


— 


1,346 


958 


1,800 


2,342 


Barristers 


252 


394 


1,141 


1,690 


2,084 


Chemists 


— 


161 


335 


447 


f? about 

1 500 


Clerics ... 


5,232 


5,102 


6,649 


7,952 


10,335 


Doctors 


274 


398 


797 


1,280 


f? about 
1 1,500 


Journalists 


— • 


68 


— 


74 


120 


Midwives 


1,300 


832 


769 


820 


1,042 


Teachers 


679 


1,076 


1,613 


2,194 


4,059 



Total 



7,737 9,377 12,262 16,257 21,982 



BUSINESS 77 



iSss- 1861. 1870. iSjg. i88g. 
Civil service ... 2,615 3>S53 S>343 7.7o6 9,722 
,, local govern- 
ment . . . 



I 6,250 5,199 4,109 2,872 3,720 



Total ... 8,865 8,752 9,452 10,578 13,442 

1833. 1861. 1870. 1879. i^Sg. 

Army ... ... 4,866 — 12,420 18,521 26,134 

„ (pensioned) _ _ — 1,265 3.532 

Navy — 510 1,315 2,202 3,361 



Total ... — — 13.73s 21,988 33,027 

Independent ... — 16,122 31,234 32,345 36,032 

It will be noticed that, with three exceptions, 
the 1889 returns are the largest on record. The 
agogiats are losing their t^aison d'etre, being 
snuffed out by the railways, the local government 
servants have been in part drafted into the 
national civil service, and the sailors who are 
away with their ships do not appear in the 1889 
census. The increases to be regretted are the 
naval and military, which, fortunately, have been 
considerably reduced since 1889 ; the civil service, 
who might be still considerably reduced to advan- 
tage, though their permanency is the chief reform 
required for them ; the barristers (including 
lawyers of all kinds), who are many of them 
semi-briefless, and so driven into the already over- 
full ranks of journalism and politics ; the shep- 
herds, who are, to some extent, a. survival of the 
klephts— admirable people to struggle against 



78 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

foreign oppression, but very liable to kick over 
the traces of even a free and national government ; 
and possibly the priests, although one is naturally 
very reluctant to think so. The increases which 
account for the progress of Greece so far as it has 
gone, and point prophetically to a still greater 
future, are the increases of farmers and labourers, of 
artisans and business-men, of men of independent 
means, and especially of teachers. 
The class-growths are seen thus : 





iS53- 


1861. 


1870. 


1879. 


i88g. 


Agriculture 


229,259 


206,052 


290,959 


291AS1 


386,949 


Commerce 


58,128 


62,349 


92,259 


ioJ,334 


125,087 


Domestic service 


— 


22,682 


31-566 


33,480 


56,763 


Professions 


7-737 


9>377 


12,262 


16,257 


2r,982 


Civil Service ... 


8,865 


8,752 


9,452 


10,578 


13,442 


Naval and military 


— 


— 


13,735 


21,988 


33,°27 


Independent"! 
means J 















16,122 


31,234 


32,345 


36,032 



Agriculture has not progressed as rapidly as it 
ought to have, considering the increase of terri- 
tory. The professions have made almost too 
rapid strides, though the ambition which accounts 
for it cannot be condemned. The advance made 
by commerce, and its resultant, independent 
means, is very satisfactory. It will be observed 
that female domestic service is becoming much 
commoner now that the fear of letting their 
womenkind come into contact with masculine 
strangers — due, no doubt, partly to fear of the 



BUSINESS 



79 



Turks availing themselves of some Hunnish 
equivalent for cuissage, but still more to the 
Turkish example of keeping their own women as 
much as possible out of sight — has been almost 
extinguished in the light of that chivalry which 
has become common decency in the life of the 
West. 

The professions (rateable) followed in Athens 
by the largest number of people are : Provision- 
sellers 421, drivers 351, tobacconists 285, caf6- 
keepers 273, carpenters 236, cook-shops 190, 
bakers 180, doctors 172, tailors 172, cab-drivers 
170, hairdressers 153, butchers 149, shoemakers, 
143, drapers 135, fancy-shop-keepers 121, black- 
smiths 116, and greengrocers 103. The richest 
professions, from a rateable (or licensable) point 
of view, are : Banks 6,000 drachmas a year, 
bankers 1,125, railway companies 1,000, insurance 
companies 1,000, big merchants 762, wine- 
merchants 672, agents 300, wholesale merchants 
282, hotel - keepers 250, ornament - sellers 242, 
fancy-shop-keepers 226, confectioners 212, linen- 
drapers 211. There are 140 professions, etc., 
enumerated, accounting for 6,147 individuals. 



[80 ] 



CHAPTER VII. 

INTERNAL COMMUNICATION. 

Roads — Railways— Steamboats — The Korinth Canal — The 
Euripos — Lake Kopais — Lighthouses — Post-office — Tele- 
graph — Telephone — Weights and Measures— Coinage. 

Roads. — However Telemachos may have driven 
his chariot from sandy Pylos to Pherai, and on 
to hollow Lakedaimon, crossing a river or two 
and getting from one side to the other of difficult 
Taygetos (I am afraid we can hardly accept 
Colonel Mure's explanation), there can be no 
doubt that the ancient Greeks were not great 
road-makers. There were a good many roads, 
of course, such as they were, as people had some- 
times to move with their household goods or 
merchandise from one town to another, and the 
racing-chariots had to be taken to the various 
meetings at Olympia, Delphi, Nemea,. and the 
Isthmos, and it is not quite likely that they 
went from Sparta and from Southern Achaia to 
Olympia, or from Thebes to Delphi, by sea. At 



INTERNA L COMMUNICA TION 



the same time, it must not be supposed that there 
are no traces left of Greek roads ; there are a 
considerable number, as, for instance, of the 
Sacred Way from Athens to Eleusis, and of that 
between Korinth and Argos ; and there are old 
Greek bridges, too, as over the Eurotas, below 
Ithome, and near the Isthmian Sanctuaries. The 
Romans did not do as much road-making in 
Greece as elsewhere, and the barbarians who 
followed them destroyed instead of creating. 
The unfathomable Turk improved the inter- 
communication a little, though his best was but a 
bridlepath in the slipperiest staircase style, which 
was, however, both durable and cheap. Oddly 
enough, the mountain ponies approve the Turkish 
method ; at least, when they have to choose 
between the ordinary mountain substance along- 
side and one of these Mussulman tracks, consist- 
ing of irregularly alternate rows of smooth pebbles 
and sharp pinnacles, they invariably choose the 
latter. When Otho came to the throne he found 
not a single carriage-road in his dominions. He 
set to work vigorously, beginning with the road 
from Athens to the Peiraius, taking advantage 
of his little Bavarian army for the purpose. The 
next highway was from Nauplion to Argos and 
Tripolis. The Ionian Islands were lucky in this 
matter. The English Government made good 
roads in all of them, especially in Kephallenia, 
which had the advantage for some years of the 



82 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



administrative capacity and energy of the best 
man we ever sent to the Ionian Islands, Colonel 
Napier. 

The following table shows the roads in the 
different provinces, with their cost : 





Roads 




Complete. 




Kilometres 


Attika-Boiotia . 


562 


Phthiotis-Phokis 


439 


Aitolia-Akarnania 505 


Arta 


131 


Trikkala... 


53 


Larissa ... 


120 


Euboia ... 


186 


Argolis-Korinth 


254 


Arkadia ... 


286 


Achaia-Elis 


422 


Messenia 


204 


Lakonia ... 


220 


Kyklades 


46 


Kerkyra ... 


303 


Kephallenia 


220 


Zakynthos 


5° 


Total 


• .3,997 



Cost. 

Drachmas. 
6,956,212 
5,793,202 
9,228,790 
746,407 

SS4.20O 

1,250,830 
3,602,900 

2,020,032 

4,805,705 

5.i°9,536 

2,837,090 

2,708,605 

689,494 

1,250,443 

749,115 

474,978 

48,777,719 



Roads 
in Progress. 

Kilometres. 
89 
67 
47 
45 
19 
42 

84 

55 
188 

52 
79 
32 

17 
66 

27 
IS 

924 



This gives practically 2,500 miles already made, 
and 600 in preparation, a very respectable net- 
work for so small a country, especially for one 
which possesses such splendid sea communica- 
tions. The expense, although heavy, about 
1,500,000 sterling, is still very light when the 



INTERNAL COMMUNICATION 83 

difficult nature of the country is considered. The 
expenditure per kilometre has been heaviest in 
Euboia, about ;^ 1,02 5 a mile, and Aitolia- 
Akarnania, about ^950 a mile, and lightest in 
Kephallenia, about £180 a. mile, Kerkyra about 
^220 a mile, and Arta about ;!f300 a mile. It 
is proper, however, to remark that the roads are 
not kept in perfect repair. One would not like 
to drive one's own landau from Megalopolis to 
Karytaina, for example. The engineering, too, 
while it has very puzzling problems to solve, 
does not always hit on the happiest or, in the 
long-run, cheapest solutions. The preference for 
zigzagism over cuttings is a little too marked. 
Instead of beginning at a town and going steadily 
forward, they often begin in the middle if the 
work happens to be easier. On the same prin- 
ciple, bridge-making is rather unduly postponed. 
At the same time, considering the lack of avail- 
able funds, and the not always friendly attitude of 
the rustics who live near the operations, we must 
admit that the Greek Government has done 
wonderfully well. It would be grossly unfair to 
expect from them either the results which cen- 
turies of work and outlay have given us, or 
the methods which we have gained by long 
experience. 

Railways. — There are seven railway com- 
panies ; 



84 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 





Kilometres 


Kilometres 




Made. 


in Progress. 


Peiraius-Athens 


9 





Peiraius-Athens-Peloponnesos 


5(58 


104 


Thessaly 


204 





Attika .. 


70 





Mesolonghi-Agrinion 


44 





Mesolonghi-Krioneri ... 


16 





Peiraius-Lkrissa 





400 


Total 


on 


S04 



1. The oldest is the Httle line between Athens 
and the Peiraius, made in 1869, which has been 
very profitable both to the public and the share- 
holders — in fact, to everyone except its maker. 

It is of i^ metres gauge, and will have a 
double line by January next year, by which time 
it will also have a station in the Place de la 
Concorde, an underground railway being in pro- 
cess of construction to this quarter from the 
present station in the Kerameikos. The capital 
of the company is 2,800,000 drachmas, in 1,400 
shares of 200 drachmas each. It carried 693,370 
passengers in 1869, 1,334,545 in 1879, 2,350,474 
in 1889, and 2,121,232 in the first eight months 
of 1892. The present price of shares is 437 
drachmas, and the last dividend was 10 drachmas. 
The stations on the lines are Athens, Phaleron, 
and Peiraius. 

2. The Spap, as it is familiarly called, is of 
I metre gauge. Its capital is 25,300,000 drachmas, 
in 92,000 shares of 275 drachmas each. In 1890 



INTERNAL COMMUNICATION 85 

it expended 4,711 drachmas per kilometre, and 
received 8,616 drachmas per kilometre, 70 per 
cent, being from passenger traffic. The number 
of passengers carried in 1891 was 1,189,378, 
paying nearly 3 drachmas each, the length of line 
being 18 kilometres more than in 1890, and the 
increase of passenger traffic 15 per cent, greater, 
a considerable improvement, which is likely to 
be more than maintained. The dividends have 
been: in 1886, none; 1887, none; 1888, 4 per 
cent. ; 1889, 3 per cent. ; 1890, 7 per cent. The 
present price of shares is 133^ drachmas. The 
stations on the line are Peiraius, Hag. loannes, 
Myloi, Kato-Liosia, Ano-Liosia, Kalyvia, Eleusis, 
Hag. Nikolaos, Megara, Kineta, Hag. Theodoros, 
Kalamaki, Korinth ; Nemea, Phyktia, Argos ; 
Dalamanara, Tiryns, Nauplion ; (Argos) Kepha- 
lari, Myloi, Tripolis ; (Korinth) Perialoi, Vracha- 
toi, Kokona, Bellon, Kiaton, Domini, Melissoi, 
Sykia, Xylokastron, Kamari, Ligoporia, Stomboi, 
Derveni, Akrata, Diakophti ; Kavasila, Bartho- 
lomion, Kyllene, Loutra ; Temeni, ^gion, Patras, 
Kato-Achaia, Lechaina, Gastuni, and Pyrgos. 

3. The Thessaly Railway is of i metre gauge, 
single line. Its capital is 23,000,000 francs (gold), 
in 92,000 shares of 250 francs each. It takes 
more money from goods than from passengers. 
It is not a very paying concern, its takings per 
kilometre being (in 1890) 5,628 drachmas, and its 
expenditure 3,641 drachmas. Consequently its 



86 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

dividends have been: in 1886, 5 per cent. ; in 
1887, 1888, and 1889, none ; and in 1890 3 per 
cent. The present price of shares is 140 drachmas. 
The stations on the line are Volo, Velestino ; 
Phersala, Sophades, Karditza, Trikkala, Kalam- 
balika ; (Velestino) Schoular, Ldrissa. 

4. The Attika Railway, finished in 1885, is 
run by the Laurion Mining Company. It is of 
I metre gauge. Its capital is 5,400,000 drachmas, 
in 27,000 shares of 200 drachmas each. In 1890 
its receipts per kilometre were 7,350, and its 
expenses 4,223. It has a fair goods traffic, 
carrying must, etc., from the country, and iron- 
stone from Daskaleion. In 1886 it carried 
180,020 passengers, and in 1891 351,567. Its 
dividends have been : 1888, 6| per cent. ; 1889, 
6^ per cent. ; 1890, 9 per cent. The price of 
shares is not quoted. The stations on the line 
are : Athens, Patesia, Herakleia, Amarousion, 
Kephissia ; (Herakleion) Chalandri, Geraka, 
Kantzas, Li6pesi, Koropi, Markopoulon, Kalyvia, 
Keratea, Daskaleion, Thorikos, Laurion. 

The fares are low on all the lines, averaging 
about 13 lepta (a little over a penny) per kilo- 
metre first class, 10 lepta second class, and 7 lepta 
third class. The carriages are quite up to the 
European standard of comfort, and some are built 
like tram-cars with a little platform at each end. 
There is no unnecessary delaying of passengers, 



INTERNAL COMMUNICATION 



and no fussy formalism over their luggage. The 
officials are polite, and the trains fairly punctual. 

5. The Peiraius-Larissa Railway was begun in 
1890, on a loan of ^3,600,000, actually yielding 
80,100,000 francs, the expense of making the 
line being expected to reach 52,250,000 francs, 
i.e., 345 kilometres at 140,000, and 45 at 90,000 
francs. The line is being made by an English 
company, Messrs. Eckersley and Co., of West- 
minster, and is to be finished in 1895. The 
Government has had very hard lines over this 
adventure, as, though only half the loan has been 
subscribed, and about 15,000,000 will have to 
be spent on intercalary interest, which means that 
it will have to find about 27,000,000 somewhere, 
it has not even the right of free disposal of the 
railway. The line of route is from the Peiraius 
to Athens (9 kilometres), thence via Mazi (36) 
and Skimitari (27) to Thebes (28) ; on to Levadeia 
(38-8), Dadi (41-8), Lianokladi (48-8), Pentamilos 
(447), and Larissa (70"9). There will be branch 
lines from Skimitari to Chalkis (23), and from 
Lianokladi to Hag. Marina (40 — finished). More 
than half the work is done. The line differs from 
most other Greek railways in that it goes more 
or less as the crow flies, not in the beating-about- 
the-mountain style of the Peloponnesian Railway. 
They dare to tunnel and bridge quite in English 
fashion. 



88 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

The line from Diakophti to Kalavryta is on 
the cogged mountain-climbing principle. 

Railways have also been voted by the Chamber, 
and will soon be begun : 

(i) From Pyrgos to Pylos, with a branch to 
Meligala, by which it will be connected with the 
Myloi-Kalamata line. 

(2) From Pyrgos, via Olympia, Karytaina, 
Megalopolis, and Sparta to Gytheion. 

(3) From Mesolonghi to Antirrhion. 

It is also under contemplation to connect Kyme 
with Aliveri. 

Bulgaria has about 250 miles of railway, Rou- 
mania 1,400, and Servia 341. 

Athens is also well provided with tramways ; 
and there is a steam tramway to Old and New 
Phaleron, which is well patronized during the 
bathing season ; both of these concerns are pros- 
perous. There are also plenty of omnibuses. 
Steamboats. — There are three companies: 
I. The Hellenic Steamship Company, estab- 
lished in 1856, with a capital of 5,000,000 
drachmas in 10,000 shares of 500 drachmas 
each (1,106 shares, however, never having been 
allotted), with a reserve fund of 207,000 
drachmas. The company has recently been re- 
organized by Messrs. McDowall and Barbour. 
It possesses fourteen steamers, with a total of 
9,400 tons and 1,770 horse-power, the biggest 
boat being the Theseus, of 1,004 tons and 180 



INTERNAL COMMUNICATION 89 



horse-power. Under the old dispensation there 
had for some time been no dividend. 
Its service is as follows : 
(i) Peloponnesian — Syros, Peiraius, ^gina, 
Poros, Hydra, Spetsai, Cheli, Nauplion, 
Leonidi, Monemvasia, Kythera, Gytheion, 
Kalamai, Korone, Pylos, Marathos, Hag. 
Kyriake, Kyparissia, Katakolon, Zakynthos, 
Patras. 

(2) Peloponnesian — Very similar, but calling at 

Limeni, Kardamyloi, Kyllene and Meso- 
longhi. 

(3) Argolic Gulf — The first part of (i), as far as 

Nauplion, but also stopping at Astros. 

(4) Ionian Islands — Patras, Mesolonghi, Kyllene, 

Zakynthos, Kephallenia, Paxes, Kerkyra. 

(5) Ionian Islands — Similar, but with rather 

fewer ports of call. 

(6) Korinthian Gulf — Patras, Naupaktos, Aigion, 

Vistrinitza, Galaxidi, I tea and Korinth. 

(7) Korinthian Gulf — Similar. 

(8) Akarnanian — Patras, Mesolonghi, Astakos, 

Mytika, Zaverda, Alexandres and Ithaka. 

(9) Ambrakian Gulf — Patras, Ithaka, Leukas, 

Pr^veza, Salagora, Vonitza, Menidi and 
Karvassara. 
(10) Euboiaand Pagasaian Gulf — Syros, Peiraius, 
Laurion, Aliveri, Chalkis, Limne, Atalante, 
Stylida, Oreos, Nea Minzela, Almyros and 
Volo. 



90 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

(ii) Euboia and Pagasaian Gulf — Similar, but 
with fewer ports of call, adding, however, 
Kythnos and Kea before Peiraius. 

(12) Euboia and Pagasaian Gulf — Similar to (10), 

but with fewer ports of call. 

(13) Peiraius, Laurion, Karystos, Gavrion, Syros. 

(14) Syros, Tenos and Mykonos. 

(15) Peiraius \yid Salonica and Dardanelles] to 

Constantinople. 

(16) Peiraius [z'zi Smyrna, Mitylene and Darda- 

nelles] to Constantinople. 

(17) Patras — Kerkyra, Brindisi. 

2. Panhellenic Steamship Company, estab- 
lished in 1883, with a capital of 5,000,000 
drachmas in 25,000 shares of 200 drachmas 
each, with a reserve fund of 419,000 drachmas. 
It possesses eleven steamers, with a total burden 
of 15,095 tons, and with 2,820 horse-power; and 
a new one has recently been added. The finest 
boat is the Athenai, of 3,000 tons and 450 horse- 
power. The dividends are rather irregular in 
amount. 

Its service is as follows : 

(i) Peloponnesian-— Peiraius, Gytheion, Kalamai, 
Katakolon, Zakynthos, Mesolonghi, Patras. 

(2) Peloponnesos, Ionian Islands and Trieste — 
Peiraius, Syros, Gytheion, Kalamai, Kata- 
kolon, Zakynthos, Patras, Leukas, Ker- 
kyra and Trieste. 



INTERNAL COMMUNICATION 91 



(3) Korinthian Gulf — Patras to Itea. 

(4) Akarnanian — Patras, Mesolonghi, Astakos, 

Ithaka, Leukas, Preveza, Salagora, Vonitza, 
Karvassara, Menidi. 

(5) Ionian Islands — Patras, Zakynthos, Kephal- 

lenia Kerkyra, Preveza, Leukas and Korfu. 

(6) Eubola and Pagasaian Gulf — Peiraius, 

Laurion, Chalkis, Stylida and Volo. 

(7) Euboia and Pagasaian Gulf — Peiraius, 

Laurion, Aliveri, Chalkis, Limne, Atalante, 
Stylida, Oreos and Volo. 

(8) Kyklades — ^Peiraius to Syros. 

(9) Kyklades — Peiraius, Syros, Paros, Naxos, 

I OS, Thera. 
(10) Peiraius [via Dardanelles] to Constanti- 
nople. 

In 1888 the total knottage was 301,301, about 
92 knots a day for each of the (then) nine boats. 

3. Goudi Steamboat Company. — This is a 
private business, founded in 1879, and is sup- 
posed to pay well. It has six boats, with a total 
of 1,202 tons, the biggest being the Nauplion, of 
296 tons and 100 horse-power. 

The service is as follows : 

(i) Peloponnesian — Peiraius, Hydra, Spetsai, 
Leonidi, Gytheion, Kalamai, Korone, 
Pylos, Marathos, Hag. Kyriake, Kypa- 
rissia, Katakolon, Zakynthos, Kyllene, 
Mesolonghi, Patras. 



92 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



(2) Argolic Gulf — Peiraius, ^gina, Methana, 

Poros, Hydra, Spetsai, Cheli (sometimes 
Leonidi) and Nauplion. 

(3) Peiraius to ^gina and Poros. 

(4) Euboia and Pagasaian Gulf — Peiraius, Lau- 

rion, Aliveri, Chalkis, Limne, Stylida, Volo. 

(5) Euboia and Pagasaian Gulf — Similar. 

(6) Euboia and Pagasaian Gulf — Peiraius, Lau- 

rion, Chalkis and Volo. 

(7) Kyklades — Peiraius, Kythnos, Syros and 

Tenos. 

There are several other steamboats in the 
passenger trade — the Serpieri line, for instance, 
serving the Argolic Gulf, and there being similar 
local convenience at Volo and Kephallenia. 
There are from eight to ten steamers thus 
employed. 

The Greek steamboat arrangements are not 
quite perfect from an English standpoint, but, at 
the same time, they are very good under existing 
conditions. Those on which the passenger has 
to sleep aboard are inferior to the Mediterranean 
boats of the Messageries Maritimes, but rather 
better than those of the Fraissinet com- 
pany. The food is wholesome, palatable, cheap 
and abundant, and the berths are clean. The 
objectionable feature is that pretty generally the 
third-class passengers are allowed on the part of 
the deck nominally reserved for the first-class. 



INTERNAL COMMUNICATION 93 



The officials of the company not only share the 
democratically gregarious spirit of the cheap-fare 
payers — a spirit which is absolutely unable to com- 
prehend our English exclusiveness — but they will 
not admit the simple proposition that if one third- 
class passenger is allowed to travel first-class the 
first-class passengers are thereby actually robbed. 
But there is another side to this question to which 
the companies would do well to give some atten- 
tion. I have been told — and, indeed, it is also 
borne out by my own observation — that the com- 
panies' servants have discovered a neat device for 
robbing their masters. Say, the first-class fare is 
20 francs, the second 15 francs, and the third 
10 francs ; the purser gives you a third-class ticket 
for 15 francs, and leaves you in undisturbed 
possession of your first-class quarters. The 
purser makes 50 per cent, on the ticket, and 
the traveller, if he is not scrupulous, pockets his 
reduction of 25 per cent, and says nothing about 
it. If he is an Englishman he probably does not 
know modern Greek ; besides, he is generally 
too busy admiring the scenery to think of 
scrutinizing his ticket. It is obvious that, if the 
company only receives half the proper fares, its 
dividends are not likely to come up to expecta- 
tions. 

The Korinth Canal. — The idea of piercing 
the Isthmus of Korinth is a very old one. Caesar, 
Nero, and Hadrian all thought of it, and traces 



94 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

of Nero's attempted canal still remain. In classic 
days ships were conveyed on a railway (Diolkos) 
from one side to the other. The present enter- 
prise was set on foot in 1881 by a Fench com- 
pany, which made the mistake of letting in the sea 
before the cutting was complete. It is being 
finished accordingly by a Greek company, which 
has a capital of 5,000,000 francs in 10,000 shares 
of 500 francs, though the French company had 
spent 44,000,000 francs before coming to grief 
The canal will be 3^ miles long and 100 feet wide. 
Baedeker states, that the journey from Messina to 
the Peiraius, which now takes about fifty-eight 
hours, will be reduced to about half the time, 
while the sea-voyage from Messina to Constanti- 
nople will te shortened by about two days. From 
the three Greek steamboat companies alone, it is 
expected to take dues of 400,000 drachmas a 
year. A lighthouse is being built on the highest 
ground adjacent, and special attention is being 
paid to the proper lighting of the Korinthian 
Gulf; no doubt the Messageries Maritimes and 
the Fraissinet boats, and probably also the 
Austrian Lloyd, will avail themselves of the oppor- 
tunity of reducing their distances ; the Peiraius 
and Patras are certain to benefit largely. The 
official opening is put down for May of this 
year. 

The deepening and broadening of the Euripos 
has been undertaken at an estimated cost of 



INTERNAL COMMUNICATION 



95 



400,000 drachmas ; it is expected to be finished 
shortly. 

Lake Kopais. — An EngHsh company has for 
some years been engaged in draining this rather 
refractory lake. The old katabothra were in 
many cases choked up, and new channels have 
been made leading to Lake LIkeri, thence to 
Lake Paralimne, and thence to the Euripos. 
The reclaimed land should be extremely fertile. 

Lighthouses. ^ — English sailors are rather in 
the habit of abusing the lighthouse arrangements 
of Greece alongside of those of Spain and 
Portugal, though on cross-examination I have 
never heard it asserted that Greek lights were 
ever left unlit. In order to fully appreciate the 
enormous cost which would be necessary to light 
the Greek coast as the English Channel is lit, we 
have only to call to mind the extraordinary 
littoral of Greece. 





Area 


Littoral 


Square Kilo- 




in Square 


in 


metres of Area 




Kilometres. 


Kilometres. 


to Littoral. 


Greece 


65,194 


5.442 


12'0 


England , . 


313.675 


3>702 


84-5 


Italy 


296,012 


2,742 


107-9 


France 


528,575 


3.536 


141-5 



Greece has, accordingly, seven times as much 
seaside proportionally to its area as England, and 
nearly twelve times as much as France ; and the 
wealth at the disposal of the Government, instead 



96 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



of being in a similar proportion, is worse than the 
inverse. However, Greece possesses at present 
sixty-nine Hghthouses, and is building seventy- 
two more, fifty-five of which are to be at Marlera, 
Antipaxos, Menidi, Karvassara, Basilike, Mar- 
maka, Gombos, Skytari, Kapri, Oxyas, Zav^rda, 
Kaukalidion, Trypeton, Psaromytas, Galaxidi, 
Itea, Nikolaos, Malangavi, Keri, Marathoupolis, 
Karse, Limeni, Neapolis, Kythera (Avgo), 
Karavi, Isthmia, Sousaki, Salamis, Hag. Georgios, 
Makronesi, Tamelos, Aliveri, Oropos, Atalante, 
Arkitza, Bromos, Stylida, Drepanon, Hag. Sostos, 
Oreos, Argyronesos, Almyros, Pontikonesi, 
Arkaki, Gregias (a point of Andros), Dyovato, 
Tenos Harbour, Aspronesos, Livada, Krapsi 
(Paros), Naxos, Kyklops, Livathy, Antimelos, 
and Maskoula. I hope, too, that Mr. Cecil 
Barff' s determined efforts will lead to the placing 
of a light on the Euboia side of the murderous 
Doro Channel. The existing lighthouses are : 
Othonoi, Peristera, Kerkyra (on the Akropolis), 
Leukimne, Laka (on Paxos), Gaion (on Paxos), 
Leukas, Doukaton, Phiskardo, Bardianoi, Hag. 
Theodoroi, Lexouri, Hag. Euphemia, Hag. 
Andreas (on Ithaka), Kyllene, Hag. Soste, Papa, 
Patras, Antirrhion, Drepanon, Myrnos, Aigion, 
Apsephia (on the islet Hypsolithia), Korinth, 
Kryoneri, Zakynthos, Katakolon (cape), Kata- 
kolon (pier-head), Strophades, Kyparissia, Pylos, 
Oinoussai, Korone, Kalamai, Kytriai, Tainaron, 



INTERNAL COMMUNICATION 97 

Gytheion, Peiraius (entrance), Peiraius (pier- 
head), Themistokles' Point, Phleva, Kea, Phonia, 
Vrysaki, Berdougi, Aulis, Chalkis, Kake Kephale, 
Spathi, Kapsali, Malea, Parapola, Leonidi, Spetsai, 
Cheli, Zourva (on Hydra), Poros, Aigina (har- 
bour), Plakakia, Naustathmos (on Salamis), 
Psyttaleia, Strongyle, VasiHna, Anderas, Trikera, 
Sesylos, Gourouni, Physsa, and Gavrion. Four 
are visible 25 miles or more, five others 20 miles 
or more, seven others 15 miles or more, and four- 
teen others 10 miles or more. Physsa on Andros 
is visible the greatest distance, viz., 28 miles ; 
while Parapola is visible 27 miles, Othonoi 26, and 
Oinoussai 25. When those now building are 
finished, this will give Greece a lighthouse for 
every 38" 5 kilometres of coastline, a very fair 
average, especially when one remembers that she 
only possesses forty-one harbours (and this is a 
large number for her population), and that the 
average of other countries is greatly raised by the 
number of little pier-head lights. 

Post-Office. — Colonel Leicester Stanhope, 
who went out in 1822 on behalf of the Greek 
Committee, made strenuous, and to some extent 
successful endeavours to establish a post, and the 
Government of Kapodistria, on September 24, 
1828, passed a Bill introducing a postal system, 
which was carried into effect in the following 
May. The first convention with a foreign 
country was that with Austria, in 1834. The 

7 



98 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



progress made is easily seen in 


the financial 


returns : 




Receipts. 


Expenditure. 


Drachmas. 


Drachmas. 


1833 .., ... 8,832 


9,261 


1875 662,450 


464,808 


1880 673,597 


406,627 


1885 1,014,008 


635,162 


1890 1,387,060 


792,550 


1891 1,443.719 


796,080 


The development is also seen in the ordinary way : 


1883. 1885. 


T88y. i8go. 


Letters ,.. 3,265,079 4,535,076 4,849,000 4,940,440 


Post-cards ... 32,141 i37,244 i 


40,000 194,778 


Samples ... 13,690 30.943 


31,991 44,845 


Printed matter 191,178 31 2,034 "» , 
Newspapers... 3712,243 4,190,036/ 


58,197 P'°4°.397 
^ ' ^^ 14,888,807 



There are several other headings, which raise the 
total correspondence of 1890 a total 1,177,629 in 
advance of 1887. 

The number of post-offices in 18 17 was 249, 
with 512 officials ; but the position of Greece in 
this respect is best seen in a comparative table : 













Letters 




No. of 


To 


.E: 




andPost 




Post- 


Popula- 


Letters. 


Post-cards, cards 




offices. 


tion. 






per 
Head. 


England 


17,587 


2,109 


105,342 


1,512,200,000 


188,800,000 46^0 


France . . . 


7,436 


5,672 


57,496 


666,256,000 


38,105,000 i8'3 


Russia . . . 


5,429 


18,855 


25,661 


173,193,000 


16,460,000 1 7 


Norway 


1,274 


1,557 


1,730 


17,098,000 


1,243,000 9-2 


Portugal 


.,636 


2,782 


3,238 


20,200,000 


3,257,000 5-0 


Greece... 


249 


8,384 


512 


4,849,000 


140,000 2-3 


Bosnia . . . 


76 


17,580 


342 


2,739,000 


306,000 2 '3 


Bulgaria 


no 


25,590 


811 


3,136,000 


343,000 1-2 


Servia .., 


92 


21,703 


571 


3,671,000 


89,000 17 



INTERNAL COMMUNICATION 99 

The most interesting feature in this table is, per- 
haps, the evident superiority of Greece over the 
much-petted Bulgaria. 

In 1 89 1 the total correspondence (the details 
are not yet available) reached 16,802,330. The 
parcels post was established in 1 890, and although 
somewhat dilatory at first, especially in the case 
of parcels from abroad, is now in good working 
order, though it is still largely an external post, 
about 80 per cent, of its work being of this descrip- 
tion. Postal orders have also been established, 
and in such a moneyless country are a great 
success. Over 6,000,000 drachmas were thus 
sent in the first half of 1892. It is difficult to say 
what effect its establishment may or may not have 
on the already too puzzling currency question. 

It may be interesting to amateur stamp- 
collectors to have a schedule of Greek stamps : 





Otho. 


i860. 


1883. 


I lepton 


... black 


brown 




2 lepta 


... yellow 


yellow 


yellow 


S „ 


... green 


green 


pale green 


10 „ 


... blue 


gold 


pale yellow 


20 „ 


violet 


blue 


pink 


25 ., 


— 


— 


blue 


40 „ 


. . . purple 


violet 


violet 


SO „ 


— 


— 


dark green 


80 „ 


... gold 


purple 


ashy 



Telegraph. — The telegraphic system has 
developed very rapidly, but does not yet pay its 
way. The number of messages was 579,507 in 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



1882; 845,707 in 1887; and 1,185,682 in 1892. 
The receipts last year were 1,122,517 drachmas, 
and the expenditure 1,924,640. There are 
8,958 kilometres of wire, and 186 telegraph- 
offices. The most important service is that of the 
Eastern Telegraph Company, with its head- 
quarters at Syros. 

Bulgaria has 1,734 miles of telegraph, 
Roumania 3,576, and Servia 3,095. 

Telephone. — There is at present no public 
telephone service, but the Government, the rail- 
way companies, and several individuals have 
wires. A law was passed on August 18, 1892, 
however, which had for its object the establishing of 
both urban and inter-urban public communication. 

Weights and Measures. — In this respect, at 
any rate, Greece is more civilized than England. 
On September 28, 1876, she adopted the decimal 
system. At the same time, it must be confessed 
that in practice she is still rather inclined to 
adhere to the Turkish weights and measures, 
which are of quite English cumbersomeness and 
barbarity ; in this case the measure often bears 
the prefix ' old,' while those of the decimal system 
carry that of ' royal.' 

Measures of Length. 
I grammd=i millimetre = '03937 inch. 
I daktylos = i centimetre = '39371 inch. 
I palime=i d^cimfetre = 3-93708 inches. 
I p&hys=T metre = i'o93 yards. 
I stadion=i kilometre = 1093-633 yards, or -621 mile. 
I schoinis=i myriametre = 6-213 niiles. 



INTERNAL COMMUNICATION loi 

Square Measures. 
I square pechys = i square mfetre= i'ig6 square yards. 
I strdmma=i decare='247 acre. 

Cubic Measures. 
I kybos=i millilitre = •06103 inch, or "ooi pints. 
I mystron = i centilitre = 'eiozy cubic inch, or -017 pint. 
I kotyle=i decilitre = 6' 1 02 7 1 cubic inches, or '176 pint. 
I litra=i litre = 'o35 cubic foot, or 1760 pints. 
I koil6n=i hectolitre =3 "5 31 cubic feet, or 22-009 gallons. 

Weights. 
I k6kkos=i centigramme- •15432 grain. 
I obolos=i decigramme = 1-54323 grains. 
I drachme=i gramme = '032 ounce. 
I tilanton= too kilogrammes = 220^46 pounds. 
I tdnos = 1,000 kilogrammes = 2204 '6 pounds, 
[i mna= i| kilogrammes = 3-307 pounds. 
The talanton most usually = 100 mnas, and the tonos 1,000 
mnas.] 

The equivalents of the old measures and 
weights still in use are : 

I pechys = -646 mfetre = 2-ii9 feet. 

I pechys (building) = -74 mbtre= 2-427 feet. 

I stremma= 1,270 square mfetres= -314 acre. 

I oka= 1-33 litres = -046 cubic foot. 

I oka =1,282 grammes =2-82 pounds. 

I koildn = 33-148 litres = -895 bushel. 

I drami = 3-2 grammes = '103 ounce. 

I statdr=56-4o8 kilogrammes= 124-323 pounds. 

Coinage. — The earliest mint of old Greece was 
in Aigina, and in Aigina, too, was the first mint 
of New Greece. There, on July 28, 1829, with 
the ;^ioo worth of appliances bought by M. A. 
Kontostaulos in Malta, coins were struck of i 



102 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

Phoinix (silver), lo lepta, 5 lepta, and i lepton 
(copper). Under King Otho, from 1836 to 1858, 
3'945)952 I -lepton pieces, 4,490,487 2-lepta 
pieces, 72>AS°>7^Z 5-lepta pieces, and 17,350.763 
lo-lepta pieces were coined. Silver coins of 5 
drachmas, i drachma, -^ drachma, and ^ drachma 
were also struck during this period, and gold of 
40 drachmas in 1852, and 20 drachmas in 1833 
and 1852. Munich and Paris supplied the dies. 

Under King George Greece joined (April 10, 
1867) the Latin union, and obtained from Paris 
Tresh dies, the new mintage consisting of copper 
coins of 10, 5, 2, and i lepta ; silver of 5, 2, i, \, 
and 1 drachmas ; and gold of 100, 50, 20, 10, and 
5 drachmas. It is hardly necessary to say that 
the bigger gold coins (like our largest Jubilee 
pieces) have never been in circulation. 

Whatever gold and silver may be left in Greece 
is carefully hoarded up — in fact, so little is gold 
known, that I remember that in a bank in the 
Peloponnesos they once refused to change gold 
for me into banknotes, though they actually 
offered to lend me the notes I wanted, simply 
because I was an Englishman. 

The National Bank has notes in circulation 
of I, 2, 10, 25, 100, and 500 drachmas, and the 
Ionian and Thessalian Banks of i, 2, 10, 25, 
and 100 drachmas. For convenience, lo-drachma 
notes are cut in two, and used for 5 -drachma notes. 



[ I03 



CHAPTER VIII. 

FINANCE 

Even professional financiers find Greek finance 
an extremely difficult riddle to read, so that the 
ignorance of the general public in England and 
throughout investing Europe generally is very 
excusable. There was issued, however, at Athens 
last November a pamphlet* by M. Joseph D. 
Beckmann, which not only solves that part of the 
problem which was often regarded as insoluble, 
but makes the present financial situation quite 
intelligible — and, let me add, hopeful. He says : 
In 1 86 1 the budget showed total receipts 
24,996,762, while the expenditure required 
24,987,487 old drachmas (100 new =112 old). 
Budgetary equilibrium, then, was complete, and 
the financial situation corresponded with the 
patriarchal circumstances in which the country 
lived, paying at that time 1,382,366 drachmas on 

* ' Les Finances de la Grbce, ^tude coinposee sur la base de 
documents authentiques.' 



I04 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

the score of interest on its debt. The following 
year brought the revolution and a new dynasty ; 
it marked, too, the commencement of a new era 
in the life of Greece. Her requirements naturally 
increased, but without sensibly disturbing the 
budgetary equilibrium. In 1867 the budget 
balanced with 32,292,335 drachmas receipts, and 
28,158,698 drachmas expenditure. The budget 
of 1871 shows a total of 33,991,000 receipts, and 
39,458,924 expenditure. At this period Greece 
had already contracted some loans, and the 
annuity of the debt was 7,793,000 drachmas. 
We must, however, remark that the settlement 
of the guaranteed loan account, fixing the total 
due at 100 millions, had but recently taken place. 
Nevertheless, the budgets of the 1870 to 1880 
period were still tolerably small, and showed no 
disquieting deficit. In 1875 the budget balanced 
wich 35,239,000 drachmas receipts, and 39,331,387 
expenditure. It is certain, however, that at the 
end of the financial year these deficits would 
have to be much more considerable, since the 
receipts often remained below the estimate. The 
last years of this period sensibly altered the 
situation. These years are marked by the great 
national movement, roused by the Russo-Turkish 
War and the Berlin Treaty. Greece appealed to 
European credit, issued the 60 million loan, and 
prepared to issue the first great loan, which still 
exists, of 120 millions. Her budgets felt the 



FINANCE 105 



effect of this ; that of 1880 shows total receipts 
46,716,857 drachmas, while the expenditure is 
set down as 56,086,872 drachmas. The following 
year the budgetary deficit was already assuming 
a disquieting aspect — 113,852,722 drachmas ex- 
penditure, to 51,481,561 drachmas receipts. At 
the same time, the interest on the debt had risen 
to 19,723,000 drachmas. Still, we must not set 
up this year as a model for the period, seeing that 
its budget was made during a big mobilization. 
The budget of the following year was reduced to 
66,841,561 receipts, and 77,854,786 drachmas ex- 
penditure, a deficit capable of being considerably 
lessened by the end of the financial year. In 
short, the military expenses of the years 1877 to 
1 88 1 gave an aggregate deficit of 140 millions. 
These armings swelled out the debt, and brought 
about the forced currency ; but they also had a 
happy issue in the acquisition of a fertile province 
of 13,000 square kilometres, which at once pays 
the expenses entailed by its acquisition. The 
last decade, after all, had the greatest influence 
on the configuration of the budget. If it has 
grown enormously, it is better balanced ; for if 
the expenditure, the estimation of which reached 
100,411,479 drachmas in 1891, had quadrupled in 
the space of thirty years, the receipts had also 
increased proportionately, being set down in the 
budget at 96,451,462 drachmas. As for the 1892 
budget as rectified by the new Government, it 



io6 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

balances with 103,550,792 receipts, and 99,986,128 
expenditure. 

A glance at the estimates for the years 1881 to 
1 89 1 shows that, excepting the two mobilization 
years (1885 and 1886), the anticipated deficit was 
almost nothing; in 1887, 1888, 1889, and 1890 it 
disappears completely, and only reappears in 1891 
within very modest limits. If Greece had not 
had during this period to undergo many consider- 
able expenses, occasioned by the acquisition of 
the new provinces, and the mobilization charges, 
investments indispensable to her material develop- 
ment, and also by the conversion of weighty loans 
of long-standing, in all probability her yearly ac- 
counts would have balanced steadily. It is true, 
and we shall be verifying it immediately, that until 
now the receipts realized at the end of a year 
were always inferior to the estimates ; but, as a 
compensation, the ordinary realized expenditure 
also remains much below the credit granted. The 
reader will be able to see in the tables which we 
are about to submit to him that this assertion 
applies more or less to each financial year. As 
for the deficiency of receipts, it arises from a 
defect of budgetary legislation. In Greece the 
budget sets down the estimated receipts, the 
receipts verified as due from the tax-payers, and, 
finally, the receipts actually realized. Now, the 
estimates of a year's receipts are based, not on 
the payment of the preceding year, but on the 



FINANCE 107 



verifications. It is incontestable, in theory, that 
budgetary estimates should rest on the amounts 
the maturity of which is legally proved ; for this 
is the only legal basis of a budget. But since 
there is always a considerable difference between 
estimate and collection, an organic deficit is the 
result. This difference varies with political and 
economic circumstances ; but it is always con- 
siderable enough to justify the conclusion that it 
constitutes the greatest evil of the Hellenic 
budget. By means of the following tables, the 
reader will be able to judge of the Greek budget 
as a whole and in detail. But since the returns 
of the years before 1883 are not within our reach, 
we content ourselves necessarily with analyzing 
the budgets since 1883. We do not believe that 
this lacuna can throw doubt on the usefulness of 
this work. The years before 1882 belong to an 
epoch of which the books are closed for ever. 
The life of modern Greece begins with the last 
decade. Besides, one can always present a return 
in abstract for the preceding epoch. Up to 1875 
the budget was small, the needs of the country 
were limited, and consequently the eventual 
deficits, too, were modest. From 1861 to 1876 
Greece borrowed 80 millions. Taking into con- 
sideration the onerous conditions on which she 
had to borrow at that time, you can easily imagine 
what was the sum total of the deficits covered by 
the proceeds of these loans. The years following 



io8 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



occasioned great military expenditure. According 
to the calculations of M. Simopoulos, Minister of 
Justice at the time, an able judge of Greek finance 
— calculations based on official documents — the 
deficit of 1877 was 20,549,515 drachmas ; in 1878, 
beyond the ordinary receipts, 27,579,047 drachmas 
were spent on army and navy requirements ; in 
1879, 2,360,847 drachmas. In the two following 
years extraordinary expenditure assumed a dis- 
quieting development, since the combined deficit 
of 1880 and 1 88 1 reached 90,180,298 drachmas. 
Lastly, in 1882 the yearly balance showed a 
deficit of 5,118,000 drachmas. Since then the 
budget has developed as follows : 







Ordinary Receipts. Extraordinary 

Receipts. 






Estimated. 


Realized. 








Drachmas. 


Drachmas. 


Drachmas. 


1883 




72,133,610 


58,537,556 


— 


1884 




86,122,950 


60,744,637 


46,675,000 


1885 




74,006,586 


59,374,676 


2,052,358 


1886 




88.324,068 


62,151,128 


33,416,838 


1887 




94,656,907 


82,849,805 


93,360,420 


1888 




95,3°6>23i 


89,551,394 


4,119,822 


1889 




96,449.453 


83,371,591 


99,3°°,373 


1890 




93>S43.36S 


79,824,101 


43,223,529 


1891 (pro- 1 
visional) / 


96,541,462 


88,013,404 


12,900,000 


Thetc 


tal receipts are then : 










Drachmas. 




1883 




■■■ 58,537.556 




1884 




... 107,419 


,638 




1885 




... 131,427 


034 




1886 




■■■ 95,567 


,967 




1887 




176,210 


216 







FINANCE 


109 








Drachmas. 






1888 ... 




93,671,21 


7 




1889 ... 


... 


183,031,964 




1890 




123,047,63 







1891 ... 




100,913,404 


The 


expenditure- 


list shows the following figures : 




Estimated 


Supplementary 


Total. 


Actual 




Expenditure. 


Credits. 


Expenditure. 




Drachmas. 


Drachmas. 


Drachmas. 


Drachmas. 


1883.. 


■ 72.236,648 


6,961,002 


79,002,363 


67,795,868 


1884.. 


• 85,814,598 


19,204,242 


105,487,600 


91,346,783 


1885.. 


• 85,497,005 


43.S50.812 


132,197,167 


122,797,767 


1886.. 


89,074,634 


80,433,294 


169,541-759 


129.717.525 


1887.. 


94,269,188 


28,279,950 


t22,55i,374 


107,128,253 


1888.. 


• 92.677,585 


28,984,703 


'21,983,398 


108,050,858 


1889.. 


95,974,420 


90.523.744 


86,499,665 


168,739,262 


1890.. 


91,258,840 


67.385,253 


'59.869,765 


141,360,752 


1891.. 


ioo,4t 1,479 


5,444,606 


105,856,085 


110,163,618 


The balance-sheets of these years are then : 




Receipts. 


Expenditure 


Surplus. 


Deficit. 




Drachmas. 


Drachmas. 


Drachmas. 


Drachmas. 


1883.. 


58,537,556 


67,795,868 


— 


9,258,312 


1884.. 


107.419.638 


91.346.783 


16,072,858 


— 


1885.. 


61,427,034 


122,797,767 


— 


61.370,733 


1886.. 


91.567,967 


129.717.525 


— 


34,149,558 


1887.. 


176,210,226 


107,228,253 


69,081,973 


— 


1888.. 


93,671,217 


108,050,858 


— 


14.379.641 


1889.. 


183,031,964 


168,739,262 


14,292,702 


— 


1890.. 


123,047,630 


141.360,752 


— 


18,313,122 


1891.. 


100,913,404 


110,163,618 


— 


9,250,214 



As is seen in the preceding tables, the Greek 
account-office distinctly specifies the ordinary and 
extraordinary receipts, but does not divide the 
expenditures. So in the returns we see on one 
side budgetary and supplementary credits, and on 



no GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

the other the total of actual expenditure. Now, 
it is indispensable to know what part of this total 
corresponds to the estimates ; for it is only the 
comparison of this part of the expenditure to the 
ordinary realized receipts that can give the true 
balance of the budget — that is to say, show 
whether there is surplus or deficit. To judge of 
the daily economy of the State, we must know 
the ordinary receipts and expenditure at the end 
of each financial year. The total of receipts 
compared to the total of expenditure proves 
nothing. All the extraordinary receipts accruing 
from loans, etc., are comprised in these totals ; 
the expenditure, on its side, comprises the con- 
versions that are operated, and all extraordinary 
expenditure. To arrive at this indispensable dis- 
tinction, we must run through all the expenditures 
of these years, and eliminate everything which 
from its nature ought not to be classed among 
regular expenses. Here is such an analysis : 

1883. — As this year had no extraordinary 
receipts or expenditure, the whole of the deficit — 
9,258,312 — falls on the ordinary administration. 

1884. — Ordinary receipts realized, 60,744,637 ; 
total expenditure, 91,346,783. Of this amount 
8 millions in round numbers were employed in 
extraordinary expenditure for the army and navy. 
The ordinary deficit of the year is then 22-6 
millions, and the extraordinary 8 millions. 

1885. — Ordinary receipts, 59,374,667 ; total ex- 



FINANCE 



penditure, 122,797,767. This is the year of the 
mobilization. Of 43,550,000 voted as extra- 
ordinary credits, 35,700,000 were disbursed for 
the requirements of the Ministries of Marine and 
War. All this expenditure had an extraordinary 
character. Not finding any other extraordinary 
expenditure, we deduct these 35,700,000 from the 
total expenditure, and find that the ordinary ex- 
penditure was 8yi millions, which presents, in 
comparison with the ordinary receipts, a regular 
deficit of 28 millions, and an extraordinary one of 
357 millions in round numbers. 

1886. — Ordinary receipts realized, 62,151,128; 
total expenditure, 129,717,525. This year again 
bears the stamp of militarism. All the extra- 
ordinary expenditure, of which we could verify 
altogether 39,200,000 (32 millions for the army, 
and 3,167,000 for the navy), results from the 
mobilization. Deducting this amount from the 
total expenditure, there remain 90,517,000, a 
comparison of which with the ordinary receipts 
leaves an ordinary deficit of 28,366,000. It is to 
be remarked that M. Simopoulos in his calcula- 
tions arrives almost at the same results. Accord- 
ing to him, the deficits of 1885 are 26,685,772 
and 36,737,000; those of 1886, 28,145,000 and 
39,420,000. This divergence, which, however, 
does not at all affect the final result, is due to a 
different appreciation of certain expenditure. 

1887. — Receipts realized, 82,849,805; total 



112 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

expenditure, 107,128,263. Of this total we deduct 
(i) 15,891,138, employed in the conversion of 
former loans (of 25, 4, and 6 millions) ; (2) 
5,683,168, paid for the building of the three 
ironclads, Hydra, Psara, and Spetzai; (3) 225,000, 
for other naval expenses ; (4) 782,000, for extra- 
ordinary military expenses; (5) 2,417,000, for 
railways. Total deductions, 24,998,000 ; remainder 
of expenditure, 82,130,000. Compared with the 
ordinary realized receipts, there is then a regular 
surplus of 719,000 drachmas. 

1888. — Ordinary realized receipts, 89,551,394; 
total expenditure, 108,050,858, in which we find 
(i) 1,571,000 for railways; (2) 9,955,000 for 
ship - building ; (3) 122,300, expenses on the 
occasion of the King's anniversary ; in all, 
11,638,300 drachmas extraordinary expenditure. 
The ordinary expenditure was then 96,412,000, 
and the ordinary deficit 6,861,000. 

1889. — Ordinary receipts realized, 83,731,591 ; 
total expenditure, 168,739,262. Of this sum we 
must deduct, (i) amortization of the loans of 6 
and 10 millions, 8,382,000; (2) amortization of 
the loans of 26 and 60 millions, 57,966,000 ; 
(3) dowry of the late Princess Alexandra, 
400,000 ; (4) subvention to the Cretan refugees, 
400,000 ; (5) public works, 10,074,000 (of which 
8 millions for railways) ; (6) 3,136,000 for the 
building of the three ironclads ; (7) public build- 
ings, 503,000 ; (8) settlement of debt due to the 



FINANCE 113 



National Bank, 1,700,000; (9) Paris Exhibition, 
250,000 — in all, 82,811,000 of extraordinary ex- 
penditure, which, being deducted from the total 
receipts, gives a total of 85,928,000 ordinary ex- 
penditure, i.e., a deficit of 2,197,000. M. Simo- 
poulos arrives at the same result. 

1890. — Ordinary receipts realized, 79,824,101 ; 
total expenditure, 141,360,752. The statement 
of this financial year not being published yet, we 
can mention here only the undoubtedly extra- 
ordinary expenditure known to us. Here is most 
of it: (i) Peiraius-Larissa railway, 8,805,159; 

(2) intercalary interest on this loan, 1,148,000; 

(3) Myloi-Kalamai railway, 8,062,458 ; (4) in- 
terest on this loan, 1,440,000; (5) other railways, 
4,237,911; (6) building of the three ironclads, 
4,814,000 ; (7) subvention to the Cretan refugees, 
1,320,000; (8) redemption of the rest of the old 
loan (1824-1825), 15,539,314; (9) palace of the 
Crown Prince, 149,700 — in all, 45,516,532. The 
year 1890 is, however, marked by a change of 
Government, with which, indeed, the shape of 
the budget had a good deal to do. The Govern- 
ment, which came victorious out of the elections 
of October 14, 1890, was not slow in remodelling 
the budget it found in force in a way little favour- 
able to their predecessors' administration. The 
then Opposition accused the new Ministry of 
having transferred a quantity of undoubtedly ex- 
traordinary credits to the ordinary budget in order 

8 



114 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

to make the deficit appear greater. We do not 
pretend to judge whether these accusations were 
or were not well founded, but at the same 
time it must be remembered that in the returns 
for 1890 many amounts come on to the budget 
of ordinary expenditure which can under no pre- 
text be characterized as such. We find there a 
sum of 4,228,743, representing half the yearly 
obligation on the loans of 170 and 135, which 
amount, belonging to a previous financial year, 
was placed, simply for account-office reasons, on 
the shoulders of 1890, the budget of which already 
contained the full yearly obligation of the two 
said loans. Likewise the charge for redemption 
is improperly set down for 754,335 drachmas. 
800,000 drachmas of supplementary expenditure 
pertaining to the construction, transport and insur- 
ance of the three ironclads, were also placed in 
the ordinary budget. It is also contended that 
other extraordinary expenses figure in the total 
of the ordinary expenditure of this year. But 
not having the detailed statement in our hands, 
we shall confine ourselves to adding to the amount 
of extraordinary expenditure the foregoing three 
figures. Thus we arrive at a total of 51,299,610, 
which, deducted from the sum total of expendi- 
ture, gives 90,061,142 ordinary expenditure ; that 
is to say a deficit of 10,237,000 drachmas. 

1891. — This financial year not being yet finished, 
we can only use the results known, going as far 



FINANCE lis 



as July 31, 1892. Ordinary receipts realized, 
88,013,404; total expenditure, 110,163,618. Of 
these, extraordinary : railways, 18,851,653; other 
extraordinary expenditure, 551,863 — in all 
19,403,497. This sum being deducted from the 
total expenditure there remains an ordinary ex- 
penditure of 90,760,121 drachmas, and a pro- 
visional deficit of 2,746,717 drachmas. The 
extraordinary deficit at the same date was 
10,050,214 drachmas. 

From this analysis of the budgets of the last 
nine years, the reader will be able to draw several 
conclusions. He will see at first that the years 
in which a change of Government took place 
generally gave bad results ; in other words, de- 
ficits. In fact, the deficits in 1884, 1886, and 
1890 are considerable, and greater than those 
of their preceding years. A ministerial change 
brings new elections, and each election period is 
an absolute loss to the Treasury, for the adminis- 
trative machine hardly works at all for two or 
three months. The change of personnel, too, 
entails expense of all kinds. It is undeniable, 
however, that, in spite of these interruptions, 
setting aside the great gap caused by the two 
war years, 1885 and 1886, the deficit always goes 
on getting less Above all, since 1887 it dis- 
appears almost entirely, and reappears only in 
1890, a year of change of Government. 

In examining the subject of expenditure, we 



ii6 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

are especially struck with the deficiency of collec- 
tion compared to estimate. However, what a 
difference is there not between 1883, when the 
deficiency was 14 out of 72 millions, and 1888, 
when 89*5 millions were recovered out of 95 
millions estimated, or even the provisional collec- 
tion of 88 out of 96 millions in 1891 ! The dif- 
ference between estimate and receipt was in 1883 
twenty, in 1884 twenty-three, in 1885 twenty-one, 
in 1886 thirty, in 1887 thirteen, in 1888 seven, in 
1889 twelve, in 1890 sixteen per cent. ; 1891 
shows a considerable improvement, which will 
appear still more plainly at the end of the financial 
year. The explanation of these deficiencies is 
easy. An increase of expenditure, and con- 
sequently of taxation, has been very quickly, 
even suddenly, made ; it has not kept pace with 
the economic development of the country. In 
order to meet the increase of expenditure, a 
quantity of new taxes were decreed ; increases of 
customs duties, octrois, taxes on consumption, 
came all at once. The Greek people, till then 
very lightly taxed, could not immediately accom- 
modate itself to the new demands, which forced 
it to work more. New administrative machinery, 
too, had to be created. But the sums which the 
State demands of the nation are not beyond 
its strength. The constant upward progression 
of the receipts proves it irrefutably. If with 
the present defective system they have been 



FINANCE 117 



able to levy 89^ millions in 1888 and 88 millions 
in 1 89 1, it is obvious that with a serious reform 
of the administration they will be able to levy 
95 millions and more. To believe that the arrears 
are caused by the inability to pay of the tax- 
payers, is to be ignorant of the economic capacity 
of the country. Greece is undoubtedly approach- 
ing budgetary equilibrium. 

Contrarily to the receipts, the relation between 
estimated and realized expenditure is very favour- 
able ; the latter always remains below the estimates. 
In 1883 of 72,236,648 drachmas expenditure set 
down in the budget, only 67,795,868 was spent on 
ordinary requirements. In 1884 this ratio is 
85,814,598 to 82,000,000 ; in 1885, 85,497,000 to 
87,000,000; in 1886, 89,074,634 to 90,517,000; 
in 1887, 94,269,188 to 82,130,000; in 1888, 
92,677,585 to 92,762,000; in 1889, 95,974,420 
to 86,640,000; in 1890, 91,258,840 to 90,061,142 ; 
in 1891, 100,411,479 to 90,760, 121. Seven years, 
then, out of nine show a total of actual expendi- 
ture much (as far as 10 millions) below the 
estimates. These results may be taken as proof 
of conscientious administration ; in any case they 
offer considerable compensation for the deficiency 
of receipts. This inferiority of expenditure, com- 
pared with estimate, may also be admitted for 
future budgets, and then, with a more exact 
recovery of receipts, it will render the budgetary 
equilibrium more stable. 



ii8 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

Examining the revenue accounts chapter by 
chapter, we shall see that, with the exception 
of direct contributions, the means of financial 
administration yield just about the estimated 
results. Taking, for example, the financial year 
1 89 1, the results of which are ascertained up to 
the end of July, 1892 (each 'year' begins on 
January i, and lasts twenty -two months, to 
October 31 of the following year), we find that 
the revenue comes under seven headings : (i) 
Taxes, (2) customs and octrois, (3) stamp duties 
and charges, (4) monopolies, (5) domanial 
revenue, (6) sale of public goods, (7) recovery 
of arrears. The results of the four first groups 
were : Taxes, estimated 2 2 "6 millions, recovered 
1 7 '5 millions; customs and octrois, estimated 
28'4 millions, recovered 27'6 millions ; stamp 
duties and charges, estimated i4'i millions, re- 
covered 1 3 '2 millions; monopolies, estimated 
10 millions, recovered 97 millions. These figures 
may change by the end of the year, but not 
sensibly. Now, while the receipts from monopolies 
and customs corresponded almost entirely to the 
estimates, and the stamp-duties had a deficiency 
of a million only, the direct taxes produced 5 
millions less than the estimates, or a deficiency 
of 22 per cent. This phenomenon recurs each 
year. We take, at random, the returns for 1887, 
a year, therefore, which gave a surplus, and we 
shall see that of 21,642,800 drachmas of indirect 



FINANCE 119 



taxation set down in the budget, 17,177,788 
drachmas were received. The adverse difference 
found at the end of the year must then be chiefly 
attributed to the poor incoming of the indirect 
taxes. Much has been said and written on the 
subject of this ever-open administrative sore, 
and many a remedy has been proposed ; but it 
will be seen that in this case it is much easier to 
advise than to reform. The arrears of taxation 
are, so to speak, an inextricable consequence of 
the political system of Greece and of all countries 
that live under the same conditions — as witness 
Servia. Without a radical change of system it 
will always be difficult, if not impossible, to over- 
come the difficulties which stand in the way of 
applying the assessment strictly. But such a 
complete change cannot be effected in one day, 
nor does it depend on the good-will of a Govern- 
ment. Waiting and preparing for its arrival, a 
conscientious Government can do nothing except 
approximate the estimate as much as possible to 
the last actual receipts. And this is what the 
present Government has done in the revised 
budget for 1892, sanctioned by the law of August 7. 
The estimated receipts which it gives are : Taxes 
20-9 millions, customs and octrois 27-4 millions, 
stamps and duties 167 millions, monopolies 107 
millions. In the 1891 budget taxes figured for 
2 2'6 ; now, in spite of a 20 per cent, increase 
of the most important tax— on cattle— the new 



120 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

budget sets down two millions less. The customs 
estimate corresponds exactly to the last year's 
receipts. The slight increase of revenue from 
monopolies corresponds to the increase of popula- 
tion and the constantly growing consumption of 
the monopolized articles. The only subject for 
wonder would be the three millions' increase of 
the stamp-duties, but it should be observed that 
in this increase there is comprised the new 
scholastic tax, of which the revenue is estimated 
at I "6 millions. A subject of some importance 
is still that concerning the recovery of arrears, 
estimated at 4'2 millions. Since in 1891 the 
receipts under this head were 3 '8 millions, and 
their average 3 '5 millions of late years, it may 
be admitted that with a little energy and good- 
will they will end in collecting the whole sum set 
down. 

The revenue budget contains other subjects 
beside the above - mentioned. The domanial 
revenue is set down at 3,330,000 drachmas, 
1, 1 68,000 drachmas of which represent the revenue 
from forests. Considering the great extent of 
public land in Greece, and the large importation 
of forestal products which takes place, one cannot 
but be astonished at so insignificant a revenue. 
As to the other revenue subjects (highways, light- 
houses, elementary education), we excuse our- 
selves from going into their details, the more so 
as there are special budgets, the revenues of 



FINANCE 



which are previously deducted in a certain pro- 
portion from the general receipts. 

Expenditure. — The revised budget of 1892 
anticipates a total expenditure of 99,986,128 
drachmas, distributed as follows : Public debt, 
33,516,566; pensions, 4,911,156; Civil List, 
1,325,000; Foreign Office, 2,135,131; Justice, 
4.833.533 ; Interior, 7,482,957 ; Public Worship, 
4,888,088; War Office, 16,638,374; Admiralty, 
6,445,653 ; Exchequer, 5.045,689 ; expenses of 
administration and collection, 8,139,463. 

The subject of public debt occupies the largest 
place in the budget of expenditure — exactly 
33 per cent, of the whole. But since this ex- 
pense is set down at the nominal amount — that is 
to say, in drachmas, while nearly the whole 
(29 millions) is paid in gold — -we must take into 
account the monetary difference which, according 
to the rise of agio, swells the actual expenditure 
more or less considerably. An agio of 20 per 
cent, for example, increases the sum payable in 
gold — 29 millions — by a fifth, and results in the 
Government having to pay on this count 35 
millions, provided that the Treasury is obliged to 
buy the whole of the yearly obligations on the 
home market. Up till now this eventuality has 
never presented itself. Either the State had to 
procure only a part of the yearly obligations in 
the country itself, or it found the whole amount 
necessarv abroad. The great secret of Greek 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



finance just consists in this : That their head, 
profiting by the multiple relations between Greece 
and other countries, knows how to operate the 
payment with the least possible loss from monetary 
difference. 

The 3 3 "5 millions of annual obligations from 
the public debt is analyzed as follows : 

Interest on the consolidated and amor- 

tizable loans 23,968,864 francs. 

Redemption 4,674,277 „ 

Interest on the floating debt : 

„ I per cent, bills (forced cur- 
rency) ... ... ... 700,000 drachmas. 

„ I per cent, bills (small bank- 
notes) 

,, 5 per cent. Treasury bonds 
,, different provisional loans 
Loan administration ... 
Monetary difference ... 



140,000 „ 
500,000 „ 
732,000 francs. 
150,000 „ 
2,200,000 drachmas. 



In the 33,516,566 of the total annual obliga- 
tions, there are included 2 '2 millions estimated as 
monetary difference. The obligations properly 
so called are reduced to 31,316,566. Up to now 
the Government has not had to buy the current 
obligations and pay the difference ; it is possible, 
then, that at the end of the year this credit of 
2,200,000 may remain available. We must notice, 
however, that the foregoing table does not contain 
the interests on the Peiraius-Ldrissa loans, which, 
during the construction of the line, must be taken 



FINANCE 123 



from the capital of the loan itself, and are liquidated 
in virtue of a special credit. But within two or 
three years from now they will figure in the 
ordinary budget, so that the annual obliga- 
tions on the public debt are henceforward 36"5 
millions. 

We do not need to say that of this total only 
32 millions constitute the engagement of Greece 
to other countries — that is to say, the charge 
permanent and decreasing in proportion to the 
amortization, but which cannot be got rid of 
On the other hand, the yearly obligations on the 
floating debt may very well disappear from the 
budget the moment the finances shall have become 
healthy. The first consequence would probably 
be the abolition of the forced currency, with the 
double advantage of stopping the payment of 
interest on this head, and extinguishing all ex- 
penditure entailed by monetary difference. So 
we may firmly believe that, after serious financial 
reform, the annual obligations on the debt could 
be considerably reduced and unified. The fact 
that, of the 28'5 millions paid abroad, 4'6 millions 
represent the amortization charge offers another 
possibility of facilitating economic regeneration in 
Greece, either by arranging a temporary suspension 
of the amortization, or by operating a conversion 
of the amortization amount charged for interest 
with augmentation of capital. In any case, we 



124 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

may say that if the annual obligation occupies 
to-day too large a place in the budget, it is in 
consequence of difficult circumstances, political 
changes, historic events, and forced currency, 
which have contributed to the indebtedness and 
monetary depreciation of the country ; but, at the 
same time, we ought also to recognise that after 
a period of political stability, of reflection and 
serious reform, aided by confidence abroad, all 
these disastrous factors will disappear, and then 
the burdens of Greece will be absolutely and 
relatively diminished. 

When we see that military expenditure is set 
down in the budget for i6'6 millions, we cannot 
but be astonished that Greece is continually being 
reproached with a penchant for armaments and 
military expenses. The war budget, as we see it 
to-day, reduced from the year before by nearly 
three millions, is relatively and absolutely smaller 
than the military budget of the other Balkan 
States. It represents a seventh, or more exactly 
1 6 '6 per cent., of the total expenditure. It would, 
indeed, be difficult to find another State in Europe 
whose military expenditure occupies so small a 
place in its budget. To the possible objection 
that it is only quite recently that Greece has 
begun to limit its armaments, we shall reply by 
appending the credits set down in the budgets 
for military expenditure, and the actual expendi- 
ture : 





FINANCE 




I 




Military 
Expenditure voted. 


Actual. 


i883 


i6-5 


millions. 


i3'3 


Tiillions. 


1884 


25-0 


)» 


22-5 


11 


1885 


43-3 


I) 


40-9 


■» 


1886 


77'8 


») 


S2'0 


,, 


1887 


i9'o 


)j 


15-8 


)j 


1888 


t7-8 


j» 


i6'o 


j> 


1889 


i8-o 


)? 


i6-2 


j» 


1890 


18-4 


)) 


17-9 


') 


1891 


l8'2 


)) 


15-3 


)» 



125 



Military expenditure remains, then, like almost 
all the other ordinary expenditure, below the 
estimate. Besides, no one could seriously deny 
that the indebtedness of Greece is due in part 
to her armaments and military operations. The 
building of the three ironclads was paid with part 
of the 135 million loan. This loan and others 
served to cover the large deficits of 1885 and 
1886, occasioned solely by the expenses of 
mobilization. But Greece was dragged into this 
expenditure by circumstances altogether extra- 
ordinary, and she cannot be reproached with 
having embarrassed herself through jndgalomanie. 
It is only the war years which show an inflated 
budget. Greece alone amongst European States 
abstains from following the progress of military 
science ; her army contents itself with the rifle of 
large bore. Ever since the acquisition of the 
three ironclads, the question of their supple- 
mentary armament has been dragging on ; but 



126 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

they do not solve it, for economic reasons. 
Everyone who has closely seen the Greek army, 
and who knows how many gaps all the corps 
contain, will understand that the peace state 
scarcely suffices, or rather does not suffice, for 
ordinary duty. Everywhere the authorities com- 
plain of powerlessness for want of a sufficient 
armed force. How, then, can one harmonize 
these real and obvious facts with the pretended 
desperate arming of Greece ? Foregone con- 
clusions are deeply rooted, and it is less trouble 
to hold them than to do, honour to the truth. 

Naval expenditure is set down in the budget 
for a sum of 6,400,000 drachmas, which fact gives 
the lie to another of the charges brought against 
Greece. A surpassingly maritime country, with 
a fleet of twenty-seven ships, of which three are 
big ironclads, must evidently observe very great 
economy to come off with the paltry sum of 
6,400,000 drachmas. The Greek ships, in fact, 
hardly ever leave their own waters, their crews 
are at half-strength, and their drill takes place 
within the limits of the strictest necessity. Withal, 
the Greek navy pays, so to speak, its own ex- 
penses ; for it is indispensable to the surveillance 
of the coast and islands, without which smuggling 
would be openly practised. 

The other heads of expenditure need no com- 
ment ; the figures speak for themselves. One 
might find the spending of eight millions for the 



FINANCE 127 



collection of taxes and financial administration 
excessive, and, in fact, some people assure me that 
serious savings might be effected on this head. 
But it is a fact that local conditions in Greece are 
very different from those of other countries. The 
people, restive with regard to tax-paying, need 
much surveillance. The islands are particularly 
costly in this respect, for there vigilance by sea is 
necessary as well as by land, and yet the good 
islanders boast that they pay hardly any customs. 
The sentiment of duties stateward has not yet 
sufficiently penetrated the people, an unfortunate 
state of affairs not unknown elsewhere ; accord- 
ingly the State has to have agents everywhere, 
or see part of its revenue slip away. 

Summing up, we draw from the foregoing 
analysis the conclusion that the 1892 budget 
shows considerable progress. To believe that the 
nominal surplus of three millions will be estab- 
lished at the end of the year would prove an 
excess of optimism. This budget will be applied 
to the last five months of the year only ; it has 
been remade in haste and under pressure of a 
sudden change of Government, and contains only 
a small portion of the reforms which make up the 
programme of the present Government. Never- 
theless, compared with its predecessor, it presents 
a much greater stability. As far as the totals go, 
the difference is not great ; there is equal ex- 
penditure, and a slight increase of revenue. But 



128 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

in bringing j^ millions of savings into the budget, 
set off by almost as much inevitable expenditure, 
which would otherwise have produced a deficit, 
the Government has added to the sincerity of the 
budget. On the other side, it has better, that is 
to say, more sincerely, appraised the receipts, 
averted ulterior mistakes, and set off these nominal 
deficiencies by an increase of revenue amounting 
to 97 millions. Even though not believing in 
the thorough success of these fiscal measures, 
especially at the start, we will admit that their 
increased value, added to the more certain pay- 
ment of the revenue in general, offers better 
chances of relative equilibrium. The budget of 
1893, now in preparation, will draw its inspiration 
from the same principles, which is all that one 
can ask and expect from Greece in the present 
circumstances. 

At the last moment there appears the 1893 
budget, awaited so impatiently, since it must 
definitely decide the question whether Greece 
can or not, in the present circumstances, live on 
her own resources, and at the same time faith- 
fully fulfil her engagements. The sketch of the 
budget, and the commentary on it contained in 
the speech of the President of the Council, reply 
clearly and convincingly to this vital question. 
Greece wills to suffice from to-day for all her 
own wants ; as for her foreign engagements, she 



FINANCE 129 



will provide for them by herself after some time, 
as soon as the foreigner shall have helped her 
to disengage herself from the disastrous con- 
sequences of the forced currency. 

The new budget presents a total revenue of 
110,491,453 drachmas, with an expenditure of 
104,491,453 drachmas. In the budget at present 
in force the revenue figures at 103,550,792 
drachmas, and the expenditure at 99,986,128 
drachmas. But in this total there are three 
millions of purely accidental revenue, so that we 
must only count in round numbers 100 millions 
of estimated revenue. The increase in the new 
budget is obtained by means of : The increase 
of certain import duties (1,200,000 drachmas), the 
increase of the stamp-duties (1,000,000 drachmas), 
the increase of the duty on the consumption of 
wine and alcohol (600,000 drachmas), the better 
administration of forests, the payment of postal 
taxes in gold, the imposition of tonnage-dues. 
The better administration of the duty on tobacco 
should yield two millions more. This estimate 
is not fictitious, for the quantity of tobacco subject 
to taxation has trebled in a few months, thanks 
to strict vigilance. Besides new taxes there is 
the natural increase of revenue. As for the 
expenditure, which seems to be increased by 
4^ millions, I must observe that the total includes 
a credit of 8,500,000 meant to cover contingent 
loss through monetary difference. The present 

9 



130 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



budget contains a credit of 2,200,000 drachmas, 
with the same object. In this way the new 
budget has a more soHd basis, for it is just 
the monetary difference that occasioned a deficit 
every time the Treasury had to get gold at home. 
Without this credit the estimated expenditure 
comes to 95 milHons, and even then we must 
deduct from this figure the expenditure of two 
millions for future military police, which will be 
entirely refunded by the local governments. 
Moreover the diminution of the total expendi- 
ture follows also from the economies operated in 
connection with the new budget. These savings 
belong to nearly all departments, but they are 
especially considerable in the War Office estimate 
(1,000,000 drachmas). Public Works (3,000,000 
drachmas), and Elementary Education (700,000 
drachmas). We are assured, too, that the present 
budget is strictly sincere ; the estimated revenue 
is based on the average realized receipts of the 
last three years. Thus the budget totals present 
a nominal surplus of six millions. Even allowing 
for the same proportion of arrears as in recent 
years, say six or seven millions, the new budget 
will have a settled equilibrium. 

This budgetary stability, however, does not 
immediately do away with the yearly obligation 
of 31 millions in gold. To make sure of part 
of their requirements the Government will have 
the export-duties, lowered 20 per cent, paid in 



FINANCE 131 



gold. In this way it will have about 7^ millions 
of gold at its disposal. The 8^ millions would 
suffice to cover the difference of the remainder. 
But the prolonged purchase of such considerable 
quantities of gold in the country could only 
aggravate the situation by raising the agio. The 
Government thinks that the principal cause of 
the agio is the quantity of paper-money in circula- 
tion, and believes that the moment it was reduced 
to the maximum of 50 francs a head, the agio 
would come down, and then the country could by 
itself furnish the capital for the service of the 
debt. Consequently the Government will con- 
tinue its efforts for the conclusion of an external 
loan, large enough for them to be able to with- 
draw 74 millions of forced currency ; that is to 
say, the proceeds realized by this loan would for 
two or three years have to meet the annual obli- 
gation, while equivalent sums would be succes- 
sively withdrawn from circulation. The service 
of this new loan would be served by the 8^ 
millions credit which would become available the 
moment the Treasury has to pay no monetary 
difference. 



[ 132 ] 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE PUBLIC DEBT. 

M. Beckmann continues : 

The beginnings of the Greek pubHc debt go back 
to the time of the War of Independence, before 
the constitution of the kingdom. On February 21, 
1824, the Coundouriotis Government concluded a 
loan in London of ;^8oo,ooo, which though long 
disclaimed, was at last acknowledged and liquidated 
at 24,975,000 francs in 1878, and entirely re- 
deemed in 1890. Moreover, the treaty of May 7, 
1832, by which Prince Otho, of Bavaria, was 
chosen King of Greece, granted a loan of 
60,000,000 francs, guaranteed by the three pro- 
tecting powers. From that time to the sudden 
change in 1861 Greece borrowed nothing ; still, 
it is a fact that she fulfilled very irregularly the 
engagements of the guaranteed loan, of which 
the sum due was fixed in 1864 at 100,392,833 
francs. The series of regular Greek loans begins 
in 1862 with a loan of 6 millions. Six years after 



THE PUBLIC DEBT 133 

a loan of 25 millions was concluded. Then the 
intervals grew shorter — 1871, the loan of /\ 
millions; 1874, o^^e of 26 millions; 1876, one 
of 10 millions; 1879, one of 60 millions. Here 
we interrupt the enumeration of the operations 
of Greek credit, because the year 1880 separates 
the past from the new period, marked by the 
acquisition of the new provinces, by enormous 
social and political development, and by a new 
financial policy. Up to 1880, then, the external 
debt of Greece had reached the nominal amount 
of 256 millions. 

The loan of 120 millions issued in i»8i, which 
inaugurates the series of big loans, belongs by 
right to the preceding period, as it only served 
to cover the expenses of the mobilization in 1880. 
However, we enter it in the 1881 to 1884 period, 
because in point of fact it belongs there, because 
it still exists, and because this method seems to us 
indispensable to our object, which is to show the 
way the loans of the new era have been employed. 

Appended is a table of all the loans from 1880 
to now : 

Loans since 1880. 



1880 loan, 120 millions ... 
,, „ 9 millions 

1884 „ 170 millions (reduced] 
to 100) ... ... ... ...} 

1885 loan, patriotic 

,, ,, small bank-notes 



Nominal. 


Real. 


120,000,000 


74,000,000 


9,000,000 


9,000,000 


100,000,000 


63.353.759 


30,000,000 


2,709,168 


18,000,000 


18,000,000 



134 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 







Loans since 


1880 


{continued). 
No77iinal. 


Real. 


1885 


loan 


forced currency 




75,615,000 


75,615,000 


1887 

pol 


les) 


185 millions (mono-'j 


135,000,000 


90,990,000 


1888 loan 


15 millions ... 




15,000,000 


9,990,000 


1889 




_;^ 1,200,000 ... 




30,000,000 


20,437>S°° 


)j 




;^5 ,000,000 ... 




125,000,000 


91,268,827 


1890 




Peiraius-Larissa 




45,000,000 


40,050,000 


1891 




)) 




15,000,000 


13,000,000 


1892 




internal (gold) 




[6,500,000 


10,999,980 


" 




highways 
Total 




20,000,000 


16,934,187 




7.';4,2i5,ooo 


539,448,421 



From this total of 754,215,000 francs we deduct 
first the 75,615,000 francs loan for the forced 
currency, since we are not now dealing with the 
floating debt. The remainder, then, of 678,600,000 
added to the total of the loans concluded before 
1880, say 256,000,000 francs, tells us that Greece 
has since her political birth borrowed 934,600,000 
francs. 

In the table of Greek debt, which will be found 
further on, it will be seen that the total of this 
debt to-day reaches 818,476,339 francs. Of this 
sum 130,192,519 francs constitute the floating 
debt ; consequently we will deal only with the 
remainder, 688,274,819 francs, total consolidated 
and redeemable debt, which, compared with the 
sum total of the engagements concluded by 
Greece, shows a diminution of 255,356,000 francs. 
To this diminution, the annual redemption, which 



THE PUBLIC DEBT 135 



figures for a sum of 4,-%. millions in the budget, 
has largely contributed ; in this way 65 millions 
(in round numbers) of capital have been paid. 
There remains, nevertheless, a difference of 195 
millions, which represents the relief given to the 
nominal total of the Hellenic debt by the different 
conversions and other operations. 

We can arrive at a like result, by enumerating 
the objects served by the loans, and justifying 
their employment. Only in following this method 
we cannot take into account the nominal amount 
of the loans, and must make out our statement 
on the base of their actual yield, for these loans 
have served practical ends as much as they have 
furnished the Government with real capital. The 
yield of the loans since 1880 was 539,448,421. 
Manifestly we include also the yield of the forced 
currency loan, and that quite rightly, since, the 
moment it is a question of justifying the employ- 
ment of extra- budgetary receipts, their origin is a 
matter of indifference. 

The proceeds of the 120,000,000 loan served 
with that of 60 millions to cover the deficits of 
years 1877 to 1881. In fact, at the beginning of 
the financial year 1882 the loan of 120 millions 
was already quite consumed. Its yield cannot 
enter into the returns of the loans concluded 
after 1881, and consequently we deduct it from 
the total of 539,448,421. There remain, then, 
465,448,421 francs. 



136 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

Conversions and Redemptions. 

Francs. 

Conversion of the loans of 60 and 26 millions ... 57,966.000 

„ „ 25, 4 and 6 millions 15,801,000 

Redemption of 16,336,000 of the highways loan 16,336.000 

Redemption of the obligations of the loan of 170 
millions, with which the capital was reduced to 

100 millions ... ... ... ... ... 56,375,000 

Conversion of the remainder of the Independence 

loans 15,539,000 

Conversion of the loans of 6 and 10 millions ... 8,564,000 



Total ... ... 170,581,000 

Railvi'Ays. 

For the Peiraius-Larissa Railway there were paid up to 
August 31, 1892 : 

Francs. Francs. 

For work done ... ... ... 15,071,607 

„ expropriation ... 1,900,000 
,, intercalary interest (5 half- 
years) 5,648,000 

23,619,607 



For the redemption of the loan of ^950,480 
for the Myloi-Kalamai Railway, and of 
;^i48,78o for the Mesolonghi - Ayrinion 
Rai'»ay 28,114,000 

Other railways (Diakofti-Kalavryta, and sub- 
ventions to the Peloponnesian and Thessalian 
Railways) 14,000,000 



Total 65,733,607 

Building of three ironclads ... 26,000,000 

So far, we have a total of 236,714,000 francs, of 
which the employment was justifiable. None of 
these expenses could be classed with regular ex- 



THE PUBLIC DEBT 137 

penditure. The employment of the loans, how- 
ever, did not stop there. Almost the whole system 
of roads at present existing in Greece would still 
be in its former rudimentary state if the loans 
had not procured for the State considerable sums, 
of which part had to cover the extraordinary ex- 
penditure on highways. But we think that road- 
making is an elementary duty of the State, and 
that consequently only the extraordinary expen- 
diture under this head can figure in the extra- 
ordinary budget. 

There is, however, another expenditure which 
must be deducted from the total yield of the 
loans before we can form a faithful idea of its 
employment — that is, the 67,604,582 francs spent 
in 1884 on the abolition of the forced currency of 
the notes of the National Bank and Ionian Bank. 
Since this sum was taken in full from the proceeds 
of the 170 millions loan with the object of lessen- 
ing the total debt, and since it was really paid, we 
must add it to the part of the loans employed in 
conversion and redemption. The fact that the 
forced currency was reintroduced in 1885 does 
not alter the question at all. The 75,615,000 of 
new debt contracted on this occasion are included 
in the sum total, the employment of which we 
wish to justify. 

Of the total loans, after deducting the pro- 
ceeds of the 1 20 millions loan — that is to say, 
465,448,421 francs — there were spent : 



138 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

Francs. 
On conversion and redemption ... 170,681,000 

On railways 65,733,000 

On the ironclads 26,000,000 

On abolishing the forced currency ... 67,604,582 

Total employment ... 330,018,582 
Total loans 465,448,421 

Difference ... 135,4291839 

These 135,429,839 francs represent the part of 
the loans employed in covering the deficits from 
1882 to 1891. If we add these up, we find that 
their total comes to 202,496,000 drachmas (in 
round numbers as to the thousands). 

Analysis : 

Deficits. Surplus. 

Ordinary. Extraordinary. 

883 ... 9,258,000 — — 

884 ... 22,600,000 8,000,000 — 

885 ... 28,000,000 35,700,000 — 

886 ... 28,366,000 39,200,000 — 

887 ... — — 719,000 

888 ... 6,861,000 — — 

889 ... 2,197,000 — — 

890 ... 10,237,000 — — 

891 ... 2,746,000 10,050,000 — 



Total ... 110,265,000 92,250,000 719,000 
Viz., 203,215,000 - 719,000 = 202,496,000 

It is striking that the total uncovered expen- 
diture is 202,496,000 drachmas, while the portion 
of the loans not otherwise employed, and which 
alone can have served to cover the deficits, is 



THE PUBLIC DEBT 139 



only 135,429,000. There is thus a difference of 
67,067,000 drachmas, which has to be explained. 

With this end in view, we will at first point out 
one of the peculiarities of the Hellenic budget — 
the administration of the highways. For this 
there is a special account, its revenue accruing 
from a first claim on the taxes. But the Treasury 
is bound to cover all the expenses of this depart- 
ment — that is to say, in so far as the special 
revenue is insufficient for highway requirements, 
the Treasury must make up the deficit. The 
general budget of the country contains, both as to 
revenue and expenditure, a highways account — 
that is to say, the receipts and the amounts spent 
on the highways accounts form part of the general 
budget. Now, since 1882 the receipts have been 
42,434,533 drachmas, and the expenses 68,562,602 
drachmas. This difference of 26,128,069 must 
be deducted from the total deficits, as it is evident 
that if we had taken into account in our analysis 
of the financial years these unforeseen investment 
expenses, we should have classed them with extra- 
ordinary expenditure. The deficit total, then, is 
176,368,000, and the difference between it and 
the remainder of the loans available — 135,429,000 
— is reduced to 40,939,000 drachmas. 

Since 1885 — the year when the forced currency 
was re-established — the issue affecting the State 
debt on this account has increased by 15,019,000 
drachmas. For in our lis); of sums arising out of 



140 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

loans, we have put the circulation of the forced 

currency down as 75,615,000 drachmas, while the 

State debt on this score was, on October 15, 

90,634,054, that is to say, an increase ot 15 

millions. Besides the forced currency, we ought 

to take into account the rest of the floating debt, 

composed as follows : 

Drachmas. 
Treasury bonds ... ... ... 10,285,730 

Sundry provisional loans ... ... 17,198,733 

Total ... ... 27,484,463 

These 27,484,463 drachmas of further loans, 
added to the 15 millions obtained by the increase 
of the circulation of the forced currency, just 
make up for the difference of 40,939,000 drachmas. 
Accordingly the employment of the extraordinary 
revenue resulting from loans is justified. 

Schedule of the National Debt of Greece 
UP TO the latter half of 1892. — According to 
an official publication of the Ministry of Finance, 
the National Debt of Greece was, on October 15, 
1892, compared as follows : 





Paper. 


Gold. 


Total. 


Amortizable loans . . 


19,824,492 


481,601,720 


501,426,213 


Amortizable loans ) 








(consolidated) j 


31,848,606 


— 


31,848,606 


Consolidated 


— 


155.000,000 


155,000,000 


Floating debt (forced\ 
currency, provi- 
sional loans. 
Treasury bonds / 








98,068,951 


32,122,667 


'30.192,519 








Total . 1 


[49.742.049 


668,724,387 


818,467,338 



THE PUBLIC DEBT 



141 



In this total, the individual loans figure, in ac- 
cordance with the 1892 budget, for the following 

amounts : 

Paper. 
Consolidated residue of the 26 millions loan, 

5 per cent., 1874 20,303,500 dr. 

Consolidated residue of the 10 millions loan, 

5 per cent., 1876 886,250 „ 

Consolidated residue of the 9 millions loan, 

5J per cent., i88t 8,900,000 „ 

Loan for highways, 5I per cent., 1878 ... 1,758,856 „ 

Gold. 
Consolidated loan, ;^i, 200,000, 4 per cent., 

1889 ... ... ... ... ... 30,000,000 fr. 

Consolidated loan, ^^5, 000,000, 4 per cent., 

1889 125,000,000 „ 

Amortizable loan of 120 millions, 5 per cent., 

1880 106,055,000 „ 

Amortizable loan of 170 (100) millions, 5 per 

cent., 1884 92,473,500 „ 

Amortizable loan of 1 35 millions (monopolies), 

4 per cent., 1887 133,410,000,, 

Amortizable loan of 15 millions, 4 per cent., 

1887 14,855,000 „ 

Loan for Peiraius-Larissa Railway, 5 per 

cent., 1890 60,000,000 „ 

Interior loan (gold) of 16-5 millions, 4 per 

cent., 1892 16,305,000 „ 

Besides the following special loans : 

Loan from the three great powers, 1864 ... 73,202,720 fr. 

Debt to the late King Otho, 1868 2,433,442 dr. 

Patriotic loan, 1885 2,536,050 „ 

Floating Debt. 
Treasury bonds in circulation ... ... 10,285,730 „ 



142 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



Circulation of Forced Currency Notes, on the State's Account, 

October -h-, 1802. 

Gold. 

Notes of National Bank 70,994,240 dr. 

„ Ionian Bank 1,884,307 „ 

„ Epiro-Thessalian Bank 9°5.S73 » 

Debt on Smaller Bank-notes. 

National Bank ... ... ... ... 7,000,000 ,, 

Ionian Bank ... ... ... ... ... 3,500,000 „ 

Epiro-Thessalian Bank ... ... ... 3,500,000 „ 

Metallic Debt in Virtue of Forced Currency. 

Gold. 
National Bank ... ... ... ... 13,999,906 fr. 

Ionian Bank ... ... ... ... ... 2,010,028 ,, 

Epiro-Thessalian Bank ... ... ... 804,000 ,, 

*Provisional loan, 5,015,000 fr., 6 per cent. ... 5,815,000 fr. 

(Falling due Nov. 24, 1892.) 
„ ^60,000, 575 per cent. ... 1,500,000,, 

(Falling due Nov. 28, 1892.) 
,, 700,000 fr., 6 per cent. ... 700,000 ,, 

(Falling due Jan. 7, 1893.) 
703,733 fr-- 6 per cent. ... 7o3>733 » 

(Falling due Nov. 5, 1892.) 
„ ^64,720, 6 per cent. ... 1,615,000,, 

(Falling due March 7, 1893.) 
„ ^60,000, 5 per cent. ... 1,500,000,, 

(Falling due March 7, 1893.) 
!, ;^4o>°oo. 5 75 per cent. ... 1,000,000,, 

(Falling due April 10, 1893.) 
,, ^64,000, 575 per cent. ... 1,600,000,, 

(Falling due April 19, 1893.) 
» ;^35, 00°. 575 per cent. ... 875,000,, 

(Falling due April 19, 1893.) 

Note. — The loans in the foregoing list marked with an 
asterisk are guaranteed by obligations of the unissued part of 
the Peiraius-Ldrissa loan. 



143 ] 



CHAPTER X. 

THE FORCED CURRENCY. 

On this subject M. Beckmann says : 

Since 1877 Greece has not been free from de- 
preciation of its money. On June 20 of that year 
the forced currency of the notes of the National 
Bank and Ionian Bank was decreed — at first for 
a maximum of 47 millions for the National Bank, 
and 12 millions for the other. In 1884 the forced 
currency was revoked, an operation which cost 
the Treasury 67,604,000 francs, but which had no 
lasting results, as in 1885, owing to the require- 
ments of the mobilization, it was re-established, 
with this difference, however : That this time the 
notes of the Epiro-Thessalian Bank also obtained 
the same privilege. We must first explain the 
legal conditions under which forced currency 
exists in Greece. 

In normal times the National Bank can issue 
notes, of which the whole must be covered — as 
to a third by cash, as to a third by negotiable 



144 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

drafts, and as to a third by State bonds. On 
establishing the forced currency, the State borrowed 
14 millions in gold from the bank, obliged it to 
hold at the disposal of the State bills to the 
amount of 70,000,000 drachmas, and in return 
conferred on it the privilege of circulating on its 
own account 60 millions of forced currency. The 
amount of notes, then, circulating on the State's 
account represents its debt to the bank ; in fact, 
the State pays i per cent, on this circulation, and 
also I per cent, for the metallic debt of 14 millions. 
Accordingly the maximum circulation of the 
National Bank is 141 millions, to which one may 
add the 7 millions for small bank-notes (one and 
two drachmas) which are issued by the bank on 
the State's account, the latter also paying i per 
cent, on this amount. The conditions with the 
two other banks which have a forced currency 
are as follows : The Ionian Bank can have a 
maximum of 9 millions, two of them on the 
State's account ; the Epiro - Thessalian Bank 
maximum is 7 millions, of which one on the 
State's account. Each of these two banks has 
also 3 '5 millions of smaller notes. Consequently 
the maximum of forced currency possible in cir- 
culation is 156 millions in bank-notes, and 14 
millions in small notes. 

Leaving on one side the comparatively in- 
significant circulation of the other two banks, we 
will deal first with the circulation of the national 



FORCED CURRENCY 145 

institution. It is always below the legal maximum. 
Whereas the State often goes to the extreme 
limit with its right of drawing — the balance-sheet 
of August 31, 1892, shows on the State's account 
a circulation of 70,994,240 — the bank's circulation 
never reaches the 60 million maximum. At the 
same date it was 49,817,242. It is further note- 
worthy that the National Bank always has part of 
its circulation stored in its coffers. Many people, 
for mere safety's sake, deposit their capital in 
bank-notes with the bank itself without interest. 
Thus on August 31 the bank had 137 of its 
notes stored, an amount which we must deduct 
from the circulation. The circulation of the bank 
was on an average during the last five years from 
38 to 40 millions. The total circulation of its notes 
on August 31 was thus 128,811,482 drachmas, 
adding to which the total of the two other banks, 
we get a circulation of 145 millions for Greece. 

This amount is not too large. Absolutely, it is 
65 francs per head of the population. But you 
will see more clearly that there is nothing dis- 
quieting in this circulation when you call to mind 
that beside it there exists no means of circulation 
in the country. Gold is merchandise, and plays 
absolutely no part in internal transactions. Cheques 
are hardly known ; they are being introduced, but 
slowly. All payments are cash — that is to say, in 
notes, with forced currency. Far from looking 
for the causes of monetary difference in the 

10 



146 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



quantity of forced currency notes, one may record 
a very perceptible lack of money — that is to say, 
of the legal medium — in economic transactions ; 
and since the bank-note alone here plays this 
part, we are right in affirming that the circum- 
stances of the country imperiously demand a larger 
quantity of money. In asserting that we do not 
wish to advise the setting to work of the bank- 
note press. The experiment would be dangerous, 
and would probably lead to a terrible depreciation 
of Hellenic paper-money ; but still, we distinctly 
believe the reason of this depreciation would be 
the moral effect, and not the abundance of notes. 
It is undeniable that money — we speak always 
of paper-money— is very rare in Greece. This 
scarcity of money causes the rise of the rate of 
interest — 6 to 7 per cent, at the banks, and 10 to 
12 in private affairs. We must seek elsewhere, 
then, for the causes of the monetary difference, 
which, after having for a short time reached 
57 per cent., has remained for some months at 
about 40 per cent., which means that you must 
pay 140 drachmas to buy 100 francs. There is 
no need to explain the disastrous consequences of 
this depreciation on the State budget, on com- 
merce, and on the whole national revenue ; every 
reader understands and can imagine them. But 
whence comes this difference, and why is it so 
considerable ? 

The mere fact of the existence of the forced 



FORCED CURRENCY 147 

currency must produce a monetary difference ; 
experience proves it, and logic makes it intelligible. 
Gold disappears, and a piece of paper remains in 
the country, a piece of paper which, from the 
mere reason that it has no right to be paid abroad, 
must undergo depreciation. But in Greece, in 
addition to this natural cause, there exist special 
reasons of which the effect is to increase the 
monetary difference. Greece exports more gold 
than she imports. The country, indeed, incon- 
testably possesses no reserve of monetized bullion, 
and even were it true that importation equalled 
exportation, a metal reserve would never be 
formed. In addition to that the afflux of gold 
occurs once a year at a certain period — that is to 
say, after the harvest — while importation goes on 
all the year round, by the agency of draughts 
on other countries. The gold coming into the 
country is moreover very quickly absorbed by 
speculation. It can be demonstrated this year 
that, in spite of the good currant harvest, which 
in a short time brought at least 40 millions into 
the country, the agio did not go down at all. 
These two factors — the lack of metallic reserve 
and the requirements of the import business — are 
always active ; they have existed in the same 
force ever since the introduction of the forced 
currency. If in spite of them the agio could keep 
for five years at a height of 20 or 25 per cent, 
at most, it is because the third cause, of which 



148 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



the influence is the most direct, did not then act. 
It has been elsewhere stated that out of 33-5 
millions of yearly obligations from the debt, 29"5 
are payable in gold. The whole of this sum goes 
abroad. Even if it were established that 130 
millions of the Hellenic debt were found in Greek 
hands, one would have to admit that the whole 
amount of interest goes abroad, for the Greek 
bondholders discount their coupons abroad. To 
meet this difficulty the State can follow two 
courses : either buy the sum in metallic value on 
the home market, or get it abroad, while other- 
wise disposing of the budget credits thus liberated. 
From 1887 to 1891 the Governments did not find 
themselves under the necessity of buying the 
equivalent of the interest on the home market. 
The different loans, concluded during this period, 
placed the necessary amounts at the disposal of 
the Government. It would have been extremely 
maladroit not to profit by these combinations 
which permitted the Government to fulfil the 
engagements of the State with an expenditure 
equal to the bills falling due, and, if it had per- 
sisted in collecting the amount of the yearly obli- 
gation in the country, by paying the monetary 
difference and the cost of transfer, without counting 
the serious disturbances which this proceeding 
would have caused in the money market. If the 
loans had been concluded with the sole object 
of facilitating the payment of the interest (Greece 



FORCED CURRENCY 149 

has often been reproached with making new loans 
to pay the interest of old ones), this system would 
be at the same time detestable and ruinous. But 
since these loans would have had to be concluded 
anyway — in the chapter on the public debt will 
be found a detailed statement of their origin and 
employment — the country was for five years 
spared the unfortunate consequences of the forced 
currency by profiting by the facility offered by 
these credits which Greece had abroad. Since 
then events have furnished the proof, that without 
these combinations the situation to-day as to the 
height of agio would long since have been 
established. The movement of the agio demon- 
strates it with almost mathematical precision. In 
1887 and 1888 the agio remained at 128 and 126 
respectively. It fell considerably during the two 
following years, 1889 and 1890, of which the 
average was 122. These were the years of the 
greatest abundance of gold, coming from the 
loans of £\-2 millions and 5 millions, and the 
Peiraius-Larissa loan. The change of Govern- 
ment in October, 1890, raised the agio to 127. 
It was, however, able to stop at this point, with 
slight variations during all the first half of 1891, 
as the Government had no need to buy the first 
six months' obligations. It was only in the 
second half of this year, when the Government 
commissioned certain banks to collect gold on 
its account, that the market felt the effects of it. 



ISO GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



The rise was slight at first, but from the moment 
the conduct of the Government was known, specu- 
lation interfered in it, and the agio rose to 140 
and more. Since then it has come below this 
average for a few days only. Under the pro- 
visional Constantopoulos Ministry the rise even 
continued; the napoleon cost 31 "20 drachmas, 
which corresponds to an agio of 57 per cent. 
But the result of the elections of May -{^^ brought 
some improvement, and since then the rate has 
been at 140, though always with a slight upward 
tendency. We must observe, too, that the 
internal loan of 16,500,000 concluded by the 
Constantopoulos Ministry furnished almost the 
whole of the first half year's interest. The 
Government has got very little gold, then, on 
the market, and since in spite of this circum- 
stance the monetary difference is maintained, we 
must infer that an agio of about 40 per cent, 
corresponds to the actual circumstances of the 
country. 

The question of forced currency is of vital 
importance to Greece. No other economic 
question has interested people so powerfully, or 
roused so many discussions. On this subject the 
most opposite theories have been expressed, and 
some have even gone so far as to pretend that the 
monetary difference has not any physical cause. 
And yet one and one only origin must be attri- 
buted to it — the lack of a metallic reserve in the 



FORCED CURRENCY 151 



country. There is undoubtedly a considerable 
quantity of precious metals, and even of gold coin, 
in Greece, but all these sums are of no account as 
circulation, seeing that they form the hoardings 
of a certain class of the population and never 
leave the old stockings or mattresses in which 
they are hidden. The higher gold rises in value, 
the more carefully its owners keep it. The small 
metallic fund of the banks cannot act as a 
counterpoise to the centrifugal tendency of gold. 
Besides, the nature of Greek commercial activity 
tends to strip her of gold. The sum total of her 
exports and other resources may, expressed in 
money, equal her imports ; but it does not come 
to the same economic result. The imports — 
articles of consumption and manufacture — are 
paid for by the whole population, while the 
exports — products of the soil — profit certain classes 
only. Is it not remarkable that the essentially 
agricultural countries — Russia, Austria, Hungary, 
and partially the United States — have had to 
undergo the extreme consequences of forced 
currency, and can free themselves only in pro- 
portion as their industries develop ? And can 
it be insignificant that the two richest countries 
as to metallic reserve, France and England, owe 
their wealth to trade and manufactures? It is 
because trade fosters the industry of the country, 
while the exportation of agricultural products con- 
tributes very little to the distribution of property. 



152 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



This is not, of course, the primary cause of 
monetary difference, but from the moment forced 
currency exists, the disproportion between 
economic value of import and export increases 
it. However, the chief reason, the reason which 
acts direcriy, is the requirements of the Exchequer 
for the interest on the debt. 

Let us picture the situation of Greece in this 
respect. Gold, there is none, except a few 
millions belonging to the banks. This reserve, 
once consumed, would be renewed with difficulty. 
What there might have been over and above 
this well-guarded reserve has long since left the 
country ; in fact, you can come upon Greek 
money anywhere except in Greece. The exports 
leave no surplus. From whence, then, take the 
30 millions which the State has to export every 
year ? At all events the necessity of looking for 
them on the home market increases the demand. 
Objection will, perhaps, be made that there is 
not generally, for the matter of that, a real export 
of metal since the payment is made by draft. 
But that does not prevent the buyer, as he has 
no hard cash to offer, from having to accept the 
conditions of those who sell him their credit. 

The natural conclusion from all these reflections 
would be that Greece ought, even at the price of 
great sacrifices, to re-establish her metallic circula- 
tion. This operation was made in 1884, but with 
mediocre success. The agio did not disappear. 



FORCED CURRENCY 153 

and if it was not heavy, that is because the big 
external loan, with which the forced currency had 
been revoked, had introduced a lot of money into 
the country. In 1885 the forced currency was 
re-established ; to meet military necessities, it is 
true, but no one doubts that this necessity would 
have arisen all the same, though perhaps rather 
later. The situation to-day proves it. 

Let us examine the practical consequences 
which the withdrawal of the forced currency by 
an external loan would entail at this moment. A 
hundred millions would be quite enough, as it 
would be a condition of the withdrawal that the 
State should pay the National Bank its metallic 
debt, 14 millions, and withdraw all the notes in 
circulation on its account, at present 71 millions. 
The analogous operation with the other banks 
would cost from 6 to 7 millions — a total, then, 
of 90 millions. As to the 14 millions of smaller 
notes, we think they might very well continue to 
circulate without a metallic fund under the double 
guarantee of the State and the bank. After this 
operation, then, the agio would disappear, and 
could not reappear as long as the bank continued 
to give cash for every note. But that is the very 
misgiving which first arises. This metallic fund 
of the bank may be indifferently in gold or silver. 
Would not an agio come on gold if the bank 
persisted in changing its notes into silver? 
Further, we fancy that the metallic fund of the 



154 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



bank, fixed at a third of its circulation, is not 
enough for the large requirements of the country, 
and especially for the exports on the State s 
account. Accordingly it is to be feared that 
after a certain time the money which came into 
the country through the loan will be consumed, 
and then there will come quite naturally a premium 
on gold, and from that moment it will be im- 
possible to stay its flight. From that to the 
re-establishment of forced currency it is not far. 
Observe, too, that the loan for the removal of the 
forced currency would increase the debt, and 
consequently the interest — by from 5 to 6 millions 
— and that this interest would contribute to hasten 
a new calamity. Everything then leads us to 
believe that the sudden removal of the forced 
currency would be premature ; at any rate, it 
is well worth while avoiding the sacrifice of a 
hundred millions, if it is not certain to succeed. 

If Greece manages to establish real stable 
equilibrium in her budget, her credit will feel the 
effects of it. A considerable improvement in the 
value of Greek securities cannot remain without 
influence on monetary difference ; it will fall, for it 
is always found in inverse ratio to external credit. 
If, at the same time, the economic conditions of 
the country change ; if the production of the soil 
increases so that Greece produces herself all that 
she consumes ; if with the progress of science 
they get to increase the value of their exports ; 



FORCED CURRENCY 155 

if, meanwhile, the country can create an industry 
which would in part suffice for its wants — then 
gold would be undoubtedly more abundant, or, 
rather, less in demand, and consequently the agio 
would fall. With the monetary difference come 
down to 15 per cent, for instance, the removal of 
the forced currency will be a much easier affair 
than at present, and will have — what is still more 
important — much better chances of permanent 
success. While waiting for this favourable 
moment to present itself, the Government might 
undoubtedly make use of some expedients, if 
only with the object of somewhat animating their 
languishing commerce. There has been talk of 
an external loan of 40 or 45 millions, and pay- 
ment by its means to the banks — in the first place 
to the National Bank — of the metallic debt of 
the State due to them. That done, the National 
Bank would dispose of a metallic fund of at least 
25 millions, which would inevitably lower the agio 
for a considerable time, especially as it would 
enhance the foreign credit of the bank. This 
operation, of which the economic utility would be 
great even in case it did not last long, would have 
the advantage of not aggravating the State burden, 
as it is simply a question of borrowing abroad to 
pay the internal debt. As everything points to 
Greece having entered on a period of serious 
reform and retrenchment, we must believe that a 
preparatory operation of this kind, added to the 



iS6 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



happy effects of a combination which would 
Hghten the charges for the making of the Peiraius- 
Ldrissa Railway, might bring much nearer the 
moment of the regeneration of Greece, which 
should be crowned by the withdrawal of the 
forced currency. 

In concluding this subject, it may perhaps be 
useful to examine how far the National Bank is 
prepared to resume cash-payment. On August 31, 
1892, its metallic funds consisted of 7,974,647 
francs, to which must be added 1,727,607 francs, 
bills at sight on the Treasury, and 1,161,337 
francs, notes of other banks, which would have 
cash value as soon as the forced currency was 
withdrawn. It is one of the stipulations between 
the Government and the bank that the former, 
before removing the forced currency, withdraws 
all the circulation on its account, and pays the 
bank the whole of the metallic debt it owes it. 
This debt is twofold : the forced currency debt 
of 14 millions, and the provisional loans of 
5,477,265 francs. From the moment of the with- 
drawal, the bank then would have 27,451,939 
francs in cash, and 1,161,337 francs in the notes 
of other institutions in its coffers. In conformity 
with its charter, this fund would be sufficient to 
guarantee a circulation of 84 millions ; the nominal 
circulation of the bank was, however, at the same 
date 49,817,242 francs. This circulation, then, 
would be covered, at the moment of the re- 



FORCED CURRENCY 157 



establishment of the metalHc circulation, by nearly 
50 per cent. Probably this circulation would not 
suffice for the needs of the country, and the bank, 
sooner or later, would find itself obliged to in- 
crease it. But even in this case it would not find 
its resources exhausted, as, in order to reinforce 
its cash, it would only have to sell part of its 
stock of State obligations in gold ; of these it 
possesses 18,666,227. The moment after the 
removal of the forced currency, which would un- 
doubtedly have raised Greek prices, would be 
specially propitious for this operation. The bank 
can, after the removal, at any moment bring its 
metallic funds to 45 millions, which, according to 
its articles, is enough to guarantee a circulation of 
130 millions, an amount sufficient for the needs 
of the country, especially as there would be along- 
side of it the metallic circulation. Whether a 
metallic fund of 33 per cent, offers the necessary 
guarantees for the stability of the value of its 
notes is another question. 



[ 158 ] 



CHAPTER XI. 

FINANCE (CONCLUDED). 

M. Beckmann's Deductions — The 1893 Estimates — Municipal 

Finance. 

M. Beckmann's deductions may be tabulated as 
follows : 

I. Though Greece has borrowed a large amount 
of money, she has something to show for it : 
Thessaly, many miles of roads, many miles of 
railways, a respectable little navy, and a very 
rapidly developing commerce. 

II. Her budgets have been gradually improving, 
and are now nearly in stable equilibrium. 

(i) The estimated revenue shows a greater 
correspondence with the amounts last 
collected. 

(2) The estimated expenditure is moulded as 

far as possible on the amounts collected. 

(3) Such economies as are possible are intro- 

duced in all departments, notably in 
that of the Minister for War. 



FINANCIAL CONCLUSIONS 



159 



(4) Greater stringency is observed in the 


collection of taxes. 




The Estimates for this year (1893) are as 


follows : 






Revenue. 






Drachmas. 


Drachinas. 


Indirect taxation ... 


. 22,110,634 




Taxes on consumption 


. 36,003,000 




Duties 


• i9.53«.9o7 




Monopolies 


• 11,342,806 




Income from public property 


3,953.232 




Sale of public property ... 


2,976,674 




Recovery from expenditure 


1,551,000 




Light dues ... 


450,000 




Telegraph ... 


500,000 




Elementary Education receipts .. 


3,401,200 




Police 


1,800,000 




Sundries 


• 5.558,000 




Total ordinary revenue 




109,185,453 




Extraordinary receipts 


306,000 




Loan for highways 


1,000,000 




Total extraordinary revenue . . 




1,306,000 




Total revenue 


110,491,453 


EXPENDIT 


URE. 






Drachmas. 


Drachmas. 


Interest on national debt ... 


■ 35.468,596* 




Subsidies ... 


131,899 




Pensions ... 


4,893,000 




Civil list 


1,325,000 




Parliamentary 


504.258 




Foreign Office 


1,916,658 




Ministry of Justice 


■ 4.589,951 





* Lepta are omitted under the separate heads, but included 
in the total. 



i6o 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



Expenditure (continued). 

Drachmas. 



Drachmas. 



Ministry of Interior ... ... 8,904,758 

„ Religion ... ... 6,924,104 

War 14,364,230 

Marine 5,034,254 

„ Finance i,776,o7S 

Administration ... ... ... 8,105,011 

Sundries ... ... ... ... 1,863,000 

Total ordinary expenditure ... 95,800,797 

Extraordinary expenditure for national debt pur- 
poses ... ... ... 8,690,656 

Total expenditure .. ... 104,491,453 

Municipal Finance. — The revenue of Athens 
was, in 1891, 2,219,323 drachmas, with an ex- 
penditure of 1,994,480 drachmas. Only about 
half of the income is provided by rates, so that 
the annual burden per head is only about 10 
drachmas, the expenditure being just 20 drachmas 
per head. This is very small in comparison with 
the expenditure of other capitals : 

Milan... 

Berlin ... 

Bucharest 

Vienna 

Washington 

Paris . . . 

Brussels 

Munich 

Prague 

The total municipal indebtedness of Greece 
does not reach 20,000,000 drachmas. 



30 


francs. 


44 


)) 


61 


1) 


67 


)j 


102 


>» 


122 


j> 


124 


») 


153 


» 


X85 


>» 



[ i6i ] 



CHAPTER XII. 

PUBLIC ORDER. 

Justice' — Crime^Police — Prisons — Bankruptcy — Mendicancy. 

Justice. — In 1833 there were only three law- 
courts in Greece — at Argos, Thebes and Meso- 
longhi — and these were of criminal jurisdiction 
only. At present there is (beginning at the top) 
the Areopagos, or final Court of Appeal, consist- 
ing of a President (9,600 drachmas a year), Vice- 
president (7,800), and fifteen other judges (7,200). 
Next to these is the Court of Appeal, which has 
five courts, viz., at Athens, Nauplion, Patras, 
Kerkyra and Larissa. There are forty-nine judges 
of appeal, with salaries of 4,800 drachmas a year 
(presidents 6,000). There are twenty-two Civil 
Courts of First Instance, viz., at Athens, Syros, 
Chalkis, Lamia, Amphissa, Nauplion, Tripolis, 
Kalamai, Sparta, Kyparissia, Patras, Mesolonghi, 
Pyrgos, Zakynthos, Leukas, Kerkyra, Keph- 
allenia, Arta, Ldrissa, Trikkala, Volo and Kar- 
ditsa. The judges number 158, with 2,400 

II 



i62 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



drachmas a year each (presidents 3,600). Lastly 
there are the County Courts, with 226 magistrates, 
paid at from 2,160 to 1,200 drachmas a year. 
M. Antonios Ronteres, in an article on the Greek 
Law Courts in the 1892 ' Panhellenic Companion,' 
says, ' It is certainly believed that we are the most 
litigious people in the world.' He gives the 
total number of cases for 1890 as Areopagos, 402 ; 
Courts of Appeal, 4,588 ; Courts of First Instance, 
34,831 ; County Courts, 155,708. He contends, 
and I think most people will be inclined to agree 
with him, that while in an old-established country 
litigiousness may imply an unpleasant ethical 
state, in a land only set free a score or two of 
years from a semi-anarchic tyranny, and having 
only within the last few years emerged from the 
unrest and insecurity consequent on centuries of 
slavery, litigiousness is itself a happy proof that 
the people understand that it is better not to take 
the law into their own hands, and have learnt 
the difficult lesson that the State is strong enough 
to punish those who will not so understand. It is 
even more than this ; it goes a long way towards 
proving that the State is strong enough to punish 
those who disregard its authority. M. Ronteres 
goes so far as to say ' The policecourt is the 
principal agent of civilization in our country,' and 
if these two statements are read together, and 
assented to, we must admit that the civilization of 
Greece should be proceeding at a great pace. 



PUBLIC ORDER 163 



The decided cases have been as 


follows : 






Civil. 








1887. 1888. 


i88g. 


i8go. 


Areopagos 


353 293 


213 


238 


Courts of Appeal ... 


4,879 5.°72 


.i.736 


4,588 


„ First Instance 


43.824 41,039 


•r^,74o 


34,831 


County Courts 


128,212 145,892 


155,708 


132,048 


Total 


177,268 192,296 
Criminal. 


202,397 


171,705 




1887. 1888. 


i88g. 


i8go. 


Areopagos ... 


158 193 


187 


164 


Courts of Appeal . . . 


1,172 1,380 


1,186 


1,132 


Police Courts 


35,583 39,394 


36,993 


32,385 


Inferior Police Courts 


36,811 54,948 


51,364 


39,006 



Total 74,724 95,915 89,730 73,687 

It appears that in both civil and criminal matters 
a climax was reached in 1888, that is to say, that 
the new Themis had been worshipped with so 
much ardour that there could but come a time 
when her votaries would see that she preferred 
the law-abiding even to those who forsook the 
dagger for the law court. 

There are also commercial tribunals, on the 
French projection at Syros, Nauplion and Patras. 

Athens is the only town which has a separate 
Inferior Police Court. In all other cases the civil 
judges sit also in Crown cases. In spite of this 
the number of judges appears to English eyes 
comically excessive, but yet the whole 440 only 



1 64 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

cost about ^120,000 a year, or less than twenty- 
two of our judges (one- twentieth of the number) 
cost us. For my part I am inclined to think the 
number might be considerably reduced, and the 
salaries slightly increased. At the same time, we 
must not forget that in the Ionian Islands we were 
unable to do with numerically weak benches. Even 
as it is, disciplinary measures had to be adopted to 
thirty-six County Court judges, and two judges of 
First Instance in 1888, to fourteen County Court 
judges and two judges of First Instance in 1889, 
and to thirty-two County Court judges and three 
judges of First Instance in 1890. This means 
14 per cent, of the Court of First Instance, and 
5 1 per cent, of the County Court judges, removed, 
fined or reprimanded in three years ! Even this 
is rather a hopeful sign, for a few years ago they 
would have had to be very naughty judges, 
indeed, before any official notice was taken of 
them. A little more severity, a little more 
certainty of severity, and a decently pure judiciary 
may be found. And this will have a very great 
effect on the cause of law and order in Greece, 
although its first result may be an apparent in- 
crease of litigiousness. The Athenian Bar may 
be roughly divided into three ranks : A few, who 
can be counted on one's fingers, make from 36,000 
to 48,000 drachmas (^1,200 to .1^1,600) a year ; the 
middle division earn from 6,000 to 12,000 drachmas 
(^200 to ^400) a year ; the rest, who form the 



PUBLIC ORDER 



i6s 



great majority, have practices confined to County 
Courts and police courts, and struggle after a 
dollar a day. The provincial barristers are usually 
of this last kind, although in the chief centres a 
few gain 6,000 to 12,000 drachmas a year. 

Although justice is still somewhat uncertain, 
it is neither noticeably nor incurably so, nor is it 
as dilatory as is commonly supposed, and a 
foreigner is quite sure of not being unfairly dealt 
with, at any rate if he is on the spot, which is 
more than can be said of some bigger countries, 
which pretend to possess a civilization on an 
altogether higher plane. 

Crime. — ^This is the section of Greek con- 
temporary life which is most likely to depress the 
Philhellene. The figures speak for themselves 
only too well : 



Murder and manslaughter .. 



Wounding 

Rape, etc. 

Robbery 

Theft 

Fraud 

Forgery 

Coining 

Perjury 

Arson 

Various 



attempted 



Total 



1888. 


i8go. 


2,344 


2,301 


i 802 


869 


255 


212 


472 


442 


201 


186 


665- 


586 


20 


22 


30 


38 


8 


8 


16 


18 


30 


15 


240 


igo 


■ 4,883 


4,880 



I have but imperfect figures for 1889, for which 



i66 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



year an enormous reduction of crime is claimed ; 
there can be no doubt that there really was much 
less crime than in 1888 or 1890. In the latter 
year 2 per cent, of the condemned were of superior 
education ; 60 per cent, were more or less educated, 
and 38 per cent, illiterate ; 66 per cent, were un- 
married ; only 51 were females. In 1889 49 per 
cent, were illiterate, and 51 per cent, not so, while 
62, per cent, were unmarried. The classes chiefly 
involved were farmers, 2,952 ; shepherds and 
swine-herds, 495; of independent means, 199; 
labourers, 127 ; car-drivers and cab-drivers, 95 ; 
shoemakers, 92 ; business men, 91 ; soldiers, 85 ; 
sailors, 81 ; butchers, 58 ; iron- workers, 56 ; civil 
servants, 53 ; tailors, 51 ; coffee-shopkeepers, 44 ; 
servants (male), 43 ; general dealers, 40. 

The influence of weather on Greek criminality 
is very striking : 

iSgi. Murders. '„ / Robberies. 

461 9 

47 7 

67 1 II 

100 1 9 

102 3 

132 4 

156 7 

180—) 6 

149 / 6 

97/ 7 

Not only the first, second, and fifth columns show 
a great increase in the hot weather, but even 



January 


■ 37 


February 


•• 33 


March 


.. 47 


April ... 


•• 45 


May ... 


•• 43 \ 


June ... 


- 54 \ 


July ... . 


.. 73 \ 


August 


.. 76- 


September 


.. 64 / 


October 


■• 48/ 




PUBLIC ORDER 



167 



thefts, which can only be partially explained by 
the greater opportunities then offered. 

The actual murders (not including man- 
slaughters) and attempted murders in 1889 are 
thus geographically distributed : 





Murders 


Attempted 
Murders. 


Total. 


I to — of 
Population. 


Attika-Boiotia 


.. 50 


174 


224 


1,15° 


Achaia-Elis 


.. 49 


64 


i'3 


1,864 


Zakynthos... 


10 


9 


19 


2,319 


Arkadia , . . 


16 


42 


58 


2,SS6 


Phthiotis-Phokis 


27 


24 


SI 


2,676 


Messenia ... 


■• 34 


34 


68 


2,694 


Akarnania-Aitolia 


■■ 30 


21 


51 


3.176 


Euboia 


12 


18 


30 


3.448 


Argolis-Korinth 


- 15 


23 


38 


3.811 


Arta 


2 


6 


8 


4,111 


Lakonia . , . 


.. i6 


14 


3° 


4,202 


Kephallenia 


7 


12 


19 


4,219 


Kyklades ... 


10 


13 


23 


S.717 


Trikkala ... 


16 


9 


25 


S.72S 


Larissa 


•• IS 


8 


23 


7.3°8 


Kerkyra . . . 


7 


2 


9 


12,726 



It is rather a bad sign that Attika should be the 
most murdersome province in Greece ; under the 
very eyes of the Government, at the very head- 
quarters of the police, not to speak of the centre 
of education and learning, there ought to be less 
difficulty than elsewhere in getting the peace 
decently kept. Nor is Athens a populous enough 
city to afford a set-off on the score of police 
difficulties. The secret of all this crime will be 
shown somewhat in the next table : 



1 68 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



Condemned to death 




23 


\y 


penal servitude for life 


255 


u 


3J 


years 


1,476 


)j 


imprisonment 


with hard labour . . . 


1,489 


)) 


gaol 


... 


1.637 



This is for 1890. There were 2,301 homicides 
(from murder downwards), and twenty - three 
prisoners were condemned to death — i per cent ! 
There is, however, a more hopeful side : 



Convicted for the first time 


4,486 


J, 


)) 


second time ... 


266 


,, 


jj 


third time 


5° 


J) 


,) 


fourth time 


14 


), 


n 


fifth, etc., time 


13 



1 89 1 was a still worse year than 1890. At the 
time of the general election in Greece last year 
the Tricoupists scored considerably by instilling 
into the public mind and imagination the lesson 
of the criminal statistics under the rival leaders. 
This is one of the tables used. It is compiled 
from the figures published in the ' Ephemeris ' : 

1889 i8gi 

{M. Tricoupes, (M. Deleyannes, 

Prime Minister). Prime Minister). 

Murders ... ... 316 821 

Attempts to murder... 473 i)925 

Mysterious deaths ... 24 96 

Rapes, etc. ... ... 51 197 

Thefts 513 1,117 

Robberies ... ... o 135 

When M. Deleyannes fell there were in Lakonia 
alone {with a population of 126,000 souls) 1,247 



& 



PUBLIC ORDER 169 

fugitives from justice. His opponents asserted 
that a good deal of the support he was likely to 
get would be from those who ought to be in 
g-aol ; and there can be no doubt that the fear 
of losing popularity had made him very tender 
towards the criminal part of the population. 
Certainly the vote is at the bottom of the lawless- 
ness in Greece. However, after the release of 
the Gweedore folk perhaps an Englishman ought 
not to say much. 

An examination of the criminal statistics brings 
out the fact very prominently that crime in Greece 
is not caused by dishonesty, or by vice in any of 
its most unpleasant shapes. Quickness of temper 
is the cause of nearly all of it. Brigandage is 
dead ; it was buried with Mr. Vyner's murderers 
in 1870. A distinguished archseologist will never 
again be seen tied shirtless to a tree, sketching 
his similarly posed and unattired companion in 
misfortune, while the footpads in the background 
carry off their booty. Nor is there much thieving 
in Greece. It is true that among the country 
folk the distinction between meum and tuum is 
not well developed, but then it is nearly as vague 
on the meum side as on the tuum. There is 
a good deal of philoxenous and neighbourly 
socialism. The crimes of violence, which are the 
black spots on the fair fame of modern Greece, 
are largely due, as we have seen, to climate. 
There is a conversation over a business bargain. 



I70 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

on family matters, or what not ; there is a dis- 
agreement ; the blood of all concerned is at 
boiling-point ; knives are close at hand in their 
belts ; one strikes, not intending to kill, or intend- 
ing anything ; the other falls. When staying at 
Megalopolis for some six weeks, assisting at the 
excavation of the theatre, I had several oppor- 
tunities of finding out how it is done. The 
exclamation ' symploke !' (a row) was a very 
common one with us, and someone would go to 
the balcony to see what it was all about. 

But though the Greeks are quick-tempered, 
they are not ill-tempered. The old vendetta 
spirit once de rigetir in Maina, and very common 
in the Ionian Islands, is now almost extinct. 
Except in love-affairs, or occasionally as a sort of 
lynch-retribution for cattle stealing, there is very 
little premeditated murder. Unfortunately there 
is very little popular antipathy to homicide. 
Everyone is so smeared with the same pitch, 
through his relations and friends, that no one 
lends a helping hand to arrest a runaway man- 
slayer. Until manslaughter becomes either 
dangerous or ridiculous, it will not be checked. 
Both these cures ought to be tried. Just for one 
year every murderer ought to be put to death, 
and a crusade of satire should be carried on by 
the whole press against this particular crime. At 
the same time, the Holy Synod should make a 
combined effort to persuade the people of the 



PUBLIC ORDER 171 

eternal danger of it ; and the schoolmasters should 
do everything In their power to show the young 
Hellenes not only the heinousness of killing a 
fellow-creature, but the ugliness and the absurdity 
of all displays of temper. If Greeks could only 
see the effect this yielding to the short madness 
of anger has on 'change, they would surely be 
patriotic enough to restrain themselves. 

Police. — Next to finance, this is the most 
difficult problem the Government has to solve. 
Of course, if they could manage the former, this 
would be much easier ; probably if they could 
successfully deal with this, it would considerably 
simplify the former. There can be no doubt that 
the country has, so far, been under - policed. 
Athens, with 120,000 inhabitants, has had to 
keep itself in order with only 200 policemen, or 
one to every 600 ; while London has one to every 
200. The pay of the average constable is about 
^18 a year at the present rate of exchange, so 
that, allowing for paucity of numbers and not too 
intense popular sympathy, ' a policeman's lot is 
not a happy one,' and the result is that 'con- 
stabulary duty ' often remains undone. The 
present Prime Minister is making a great effort 
to remedy this state of things, making use of 
military assistance. The Athens police force has 
been raised to nearly 400. 

Prisons. — There are four kinds of prison in 
Greece : 



172 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

(i) Sophronisteria, large establishments (like 
our Portland) where the discipline is the most 
severe, at Athens (256), Aigina (326), Kerkyra 
(179), Kephallenia (139), and Zakynthos (243). 

(2) Prisons (like our county prisons) at Chalkis 
(120), Ithaka (46), Ldrissa (65), Nauplion (269), 
Pylos (314), Rhion (163), Trikkala and Zakynthos 

(179)- 

(3) Reformatory prisons (of a milder kind) at 

Athens (212), Amphissa, Arta (26), Kalamai (274), 
Karditsa (85), Kerkyra (73), Kyparissia (187), 
Lamia (221), Leukas (118), Mesolonghi (92), 
Patras, Pyrgos (no), Sparta (157), Syros (93), 
Tripolis (234), and Volo (67). 

(4) Lock-ups in all the towns. 
Life-sentences and other Jong terms are served 

in (i) and (2), hard labour equally in (i), (2), and 
(3), and simple imprisonment also in these three, 
but chiefly in (3). 

The Syngros is the best ; it is on the Auburn 
system, and can accommodate 300 prisoners, and 
has generally nearly this number. It is managed 
by seven officials and seventeen warders. Ninety 
per cent, of the prisoners are satisfactory in their 
conduct, and 81 per cent, in their work. 

The Greek prison system is faulty from two 
points of view — in the first place, their sanitary 
condition is, for the most part, bad, though 
probably not much worse than the homes from 
which the prisoners come ; and in the second 



PUBLIC ORDER 173 

place, there is an almost alarming lack of discipline. 
When a prisoner tells a magistrate in England 
that he would rather go to prison than the work- 
house, he means rather to abuse the latter 
establishment than to flatter the former ; but the 
little terror that the idea of prison has for the 
average Greek is quite simply because prison-life 
is made so easy. Take, for instance, the social 
opportunities of life in the Palamidi (Nauplion) ; 
the prisoners have almost as many chances of con- 
versation — the luxury which every Greek enjoys 
above all others, especially when it verges on 
debate, as it is sure to do — as in their village 
caf6s, and the dramatic past of their fellow-talkers 
supplies a spice they could not get so generously 
at home. Then the necessary cigarette is not 
prohibited ; nor is the owning of a .peculiwn, to 
build up which he is allowed to offer to visitors 
the product of his forced industry. The idea of 
discipline is absolutely repugnant to the Greek 
character ;• so much so, that I almost believe that 
if there were no punishment in their prisons but 
mere confinement and a rigid iron enforcement of 
rules — no talking, no smoking, no money, regular 
exercise — they would find they had a much 
stronger deterrent than they have at present. 

So many people have had a little holiday under 
mild State supervision and at State expense, that 
there is practically no stigma attached to im- 
prisonment. The idea has not yet penetrated 



174 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

the Hellenic masses (you cannot, however, think 
of Greek ' masses ' like you can of English or 
French — partly, of course, from the absence of 
huge populations seen collectively ; but partly, I 
think, from the greater independence of the 
Greeks) that crime is an injury to the nation, to 
the very soul of Hellenism, and to every in- 
dividual Hellene. 

Bankruptcy. — The figures are rather alarm- 
ingly progressive ; at the same time, insolvency 
savours of modern civilization, and the recent 
increase may only mean a development of the 
speculative spirit. 



In 1880... 


••• 157 


In 1886 ... 


... 263 


„ 1882 ... 


... 128 


„ 1888 ... 


... 423 


„ 1884... 


... 190 


„ 1889... 


... 516 



In the last-named year 201 of the cases were at 
Athens, 1 1 3 at Patras, 50 at Syros, 3 1 at Nauplion, 
and 23 in the Parnassid. 

Mendicancy. — Although begging was pretty 
common fifty years ago, Greece is now freer from 
this proof of misery and degradation than any 
other country I know, England not excepted, and 
stands out brilliantly in contrast with her neigh- 
bour Italy. The pride and independence of 
character of the Greek, which sometimes do him 
an ill turn, here stand him in good stead, making 
his fatherland appear prosperous and contented, 
the latter of which it really is. 



[ 175 ] 



CHAPTER XIII. 

EDUCATION. 

Elementary — Secondary — The University — Cost — The Institu- 
tions subsidiary to the University — Female Education — 
Technical Instruction — Summary. 

A GREAT deal has been written on the general 
question of the educational zeal of Modern Greece. 
The scope of this chapter will simply be the 
collection of facts, with a few comments on them. 
The data up to 1877 are taken directly from Mr. 
Sergeant's ' New Greece,' for later years from the 
Panhellenic Companions, 1890 to 1893. 

Elementary. — Before 1820 there had been a 
few schools, but the revolution brought education 
to an abrupt halt. 

In 1830 there was practically no education 
going on. Kapodistria had right intentions, but 
did not accomplish much. 

In 1834 a training-school for teachers was 
established. 

In 1840 there were 252 elementary schools, 



176 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



with 22,000 scholars, under Government control 
and dependent upon Government support, and 
private schools, with an additional 10,000 scholars, 
a total of 4 per cent, of the population. 

In 1855 there were 450 schools, with 35,273 
scholars. 

In 1872 there were 73,219 scholars in public, 
and 7,978 in private, schools; total, 81,197, or 
5^ per cent. 

In 1877 there were 74,561 scholars in public, 
and 10,650 in private, schools; total, 85,211, or 
still 5^ per cent. 

In 1889 there were public schools as follows : 



I. Mainland: 














Denies. 


Schools 


Boys, 


Girls. 


Teachers 


Attika-Boiotia . . 


28 


132 


6,409 


4,354 


190 


Phthiotis-Phokis.. 


36 


160 


4,877 


841 


108 


Aitolia-Akarnania 


34 


177 


4,866 


686 


89 


Larissa 


38 


201 


5,611 


2,000 


13s 


Trikkala 


■ 27 


189 


3,633 


332 


47 


Arta 


8 


5° 


1,373 


120 


13 


Euboia ... 


24 
195 


109 
1,018 


3,542 


797 
9,130 


77 


Total 


30,301 


659 


//. Peloponnesos : 












Argolis-Korinth .. 


32 


163 


7,086 


2,011 


133 


Arkadia ... 


33 


181 


6,938 


878 


130 


Lakonia 


28 


IS4 


6,700 


349 


105 


Messenia 


31 


172 


6,880 


1,450 


130 


Achaia-Elis 


30 


212 


7,466 


1,374 


139 


Total 


154 


882 


35,050 


6,062 


637 


///. Kyklades 


39 


127 


6,173 


2,588 


144 





EDUCATION 




177 


IV. Ionian Islands . 














Demes. 


Schools 


. Boys. 


Girls. 


Teachers. 


Kerkyra 


22 


117 


3,354 


567 


lOI 


Kephallenia 


20 


93 


2,751 


459 


75 


Zakynthos 


10 


41 


1,176 


180 


25 


Total 


52 


251 


8,281 


1,206 


201 


Aggregate 


440 


2,278 


78,815 


18,986 


1,641 



This is nearly 5 per cent, of the population, 
but does not include private schools, which bring 
it up to rather over 6 per cent. 

The province which succeeds best in getting 
its children to school is the Kyklades ; next, 
Argolis-Korinth ; third, Lakonia ; while the three 
worst are Aitolia - Akarnania, Zakynthos, and 
Trikkala, which last gets less than 3 per cent, of 
its population to school. 

Achaia-Elis and Trikkala with 7, and Arta 
with 6'2, have the greatest number of schools per 
deme ; while Euboia with 4"5, Zakynthos with 
4' I, and the Kyklades with 3 '2, have the least. 

In Attika-Boiotia there are 1-4 teachers per 
school, and in the Kyklades I'l ; while in Arta 
and Trikkala there are four schools to every 
teacher. 

In Attika-Boiotia 40 per cent, of the scholars 
are girls ; in the Kyklades, 28 per cent. ; in 
Ldrissa, 26 per cent. ; but in Arta and Trikkala 
only 8 per cent., and in Lakonia only 5 per cent. 
The elementary education of boys in Lakonia is 
thus quite the best in Greece. 

12 



178 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

Before going further, it will be as well to 
mention that the general scheme of education, 
as at present applied in Greece, is founded almost 
entirely on that in force in France. Three years 
are spent in the deme schools, three in the Hellenic 
schools, four in the gymnasia, and four in the 
University. 

Beginning at the base, with which so far we 
have alone been dealing, we have the deme 
schools, of which we have seen that there are 
2,278, or 57 to every deme, and just one to 
every two of the 4,575 villages, a splendid abun- 
dance. 

Secondary Education is given in Hellenic 
schools and gymnasia ; the latter resemble French 
lyc^es rather than our grammar-schools. Of the 
Hellenic schools, which are sometimes called 
grammar-schools, and come between the deme 
schools and the gymnasia, there were, in 1855, 
80, with 4,224 scholars, and in 1875, 136, with 
7,945 scholars. There are now : 

Schools. Scholars. Teachers. 

Mainland 120 7,548 — 

Peloponnesos 117 8,325 — 

Kyklades 28 1,312 — 



Ionian Islands ... 16 



i>oS5 



Total 281 18,240 538 

Messenia, Lakonia, and Achaia-Elis are at the 
top; while Kephallenia, Trikkala, and Kerkyra 
are lowest. The two largest schools are those at 
Meligala (near Ithome) and Gytheion ; but there 



EDUCATION 



179 



are seven of these schools at Athens. Next 
higher come the gymnasia, of which the Var- 
vakeion may be taken as a type, though it is, in 
fact, the best of them. It has seven classes, with 
the following obligatory curriculum : (i) scientific 
— Greek, English, French, German, religion, 
history, geography, mathematics, natural history, 
physics, chemistry, and mineralogy ; (2) technical 
— writing, drawing, gymnastics, and drill. In the 
first 3 classes there are 33 hours' instruction a 
week ; in the 4th and 5th, 34 ; and in the 6th and 
7th, 35. The first three classes correspond to 
the three classes of which the Hellenic schools 
(or grammar-schools) consist. There were : 



In 185s ... 


7 


968 


„ 1875 ... 


18 


2,460 


„ 1888 ... 


• 35 


4.704 


„ 1890 


• 36 


S.312 


„ 1893 ... 


41 

■ 7-r 1 • 


] T\^ 



Gymnasia. Scholars. Teachers. 



187 



Attika-Boiotia, Achaia-Elis, and Messenia show 
the best figures. 

Compared with other countries, the provision 
for education of the lycde kind in Greece is : 





Lycees 

to 

Inhabitants. 


Lycee Scholars 
per 10,000 
Inhabitants. 


Greece 


53.347 




27 


France 


40,000 




26 


Belgium 


36,580 




25 


Italy 


28,500 




22 


Roumania 


100,000 




15 


United States ... 


... i73.°oo 




II 



i8o GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

The only gymnasium head-master I have had 
the pleasure of conversing with, M. Kasimates 
of Dimitzana, was a man of culture and energy, 
an archaeologist of considerable research, and the 
very man to inspire the young men of a mountain 
fastness in Arcadia with a love of country that is 
not jingoism, and a love of learning that is not 
pedantry. 

Passing over for the present certain technical 
schools, we come to the University. 

The University was opened in 1837 with 28 
professors, and in 1841 numbered 292 students — 
167 in law (57 per cent), 53 in arts (18 per cent.), 
52 in medicine (18 per cent.), and 20 in theology 
(7 per cent.). Sixty-nine of these students came 
from abroad, so also had a large proportion oif the 
money (a quarter of a million) subscribed up to 
that time, especially from Alexandria, the Ionian 
Islands, and Constantinople. In 18-55 there were 
550 students. In the first reign of King George 
there were over 1,100. In 1872 there were : 





Natives. 


Foreign 
Greeks. 


Total. 


Per C 


Theology 


20 


6 


26 


2 


Law 


■- 556 


66 


622 


50 


Medicine 


299 


124 


423 


34 


Arts 


75 


45 


120 


10 


Pharmacy 


45 


8 


S3 


4 



Total ... 995 249 1,244 

It will be observed that more than half the foreign 



EDUCATION 



Greeks were medical students, a more auspicious 
fact than the 56 per cent, of native Greeks who 
were to graduate in law. 

In 1886 there were 36 students in theology 
(i per cent.), 1,281 in law (49 per cent.), 867 in 
medicine [T)?) V^^ cent), 410 in arts (15 per cent.), 
and 40 in pharmacy (2 per cent.), a total of 
2,634. 

The year 1888-9, gives this analysis : 



Theology 


24 


Law 


■•• 1,370 


Medicine ... 


797 


Arts 


519 


Pharmacy 


97 


Total.,. 


... 2,807 



Total Students. Freshmen. 

5 

384 

202 

199 

40 

830 



The percentages under each faculty since the 
foundation and now are : 





Since the 


Now on 


Fresh- 


Actual 




Foundation. 


the Roll. 


men. 


Numbers 


Theology 


■■• 3 


I 


I 


401 


Law 


■ ■■ 43 


49 


46 


6,433 


Medicine 


... 30 


29 


24 


4,552 


Arts 


20 


18 


24 


2,940 


Pharmacy 


4 


3 


5 


56s 



In 1889-90 there were 3,331 students, 905 of 
these freshmen, and arts was rather more popular 
than medicine. Their provenance was : 



l82 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 





Freshmen. 


Total. 


Mainland 


■ ■ 243 


890 


Peloponnesos 


287 


1,096 


Ionian Islands 


•• 65 


223 


Kyklades 


73 


231 


Epeiros and Alkania 


46 


157 


Asia Minor Islands ... 


34 


154 


Crete 


34 


152 


Macedonia 


23 


145 


Asia Minor ... 


42 


133 


Thrace 


10 


52 


Varna 


2 


24 


Constantinople 


13 


21 


Cyprus 


3 


13 



Of the freshmen the Varvakeion suppHed 66, 
and the other Athenian gymnasia 144, Patras 72, 
Syros 43, the Peiraius 40, Chalkis 27, Nauplion 
23, Pyrgos 21, Sparta 20. The Great School of 
the Race at Constantinople supplied 24, and the 
Evangelical School of Smyrna 15. 

In theology there are 5 professors and 7 
lecturers, and the course lasts 4 years. 

In law there are 10 professors and 17 lecturers, 
and the course lasts 4 years. 

In medicine there are 16 professors and 33 
lecturers, and the course lasts 4 years. 

In arts there are 22 professors and 16 lecturers, 
and the course lasts 4 years. 

The pharmacy school is annexed to that of 
medicine, and has no separate professors or 
lecturers, but the course lasts only 3 years. 

That which I have called the arts course the 



EDUCATION 183 



Greeks themselves call philosophy ; it includes 
literature, archaeology, and natural science, as 
well as philosophy in the English academic 
sense. 

The programme of the lectures is too long to 
reproduce (11 pages), but a few lines from the 
art course may not be uninteresting : 

N. G. Polites — (i.) Greek mythology, Fridays ; 
(ii.) Archaeological exercises ; (iii.) Greek archae- 
ology, Tuesdays and Saturdays ; (iv.) Aristotle's 
Constitution of Athens, Wednesdays. 

K. Stephanos — (i.) Differential calculus, Mon- 
days, Thursdays, and Fridays; (ii. ) Integral 
calculus, Tuesdays and Saturdays. 

D. Ch. Semitelos — (i.) Greek metre; (ii.) College 
exercises. 

S. K. Sakellaropoulos — (i.) Roman philology 
from Augustus to the end of the Roman Empire 
in the West ; (ii.) Virgil's yEneid XI. 

K. A. Mylonas — (i.) History of the arts, and 
especially the plastic, among the Greeks ; (ii.) 
Practical demonstration on the site of the monu- 
ments preserved ; (iii.) Greek epigraphy and 
what it teaches of Athenian topography. 

P. Kavvadias — (i.) History of Greek art and 
sculpture ; (ii.) Demonstration in the central 
museum. 

G. Tserepes — ^Sanskrit grammar and translation. 

The University is organized on the German 
system. 



1 84 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

Cost. — The amount of money spent on educa- 
tion in Greece was 873,026 drachmas in 1846, 
2,106,410 drachmas in 1876, and has increased 
enormously since. 

The demotic schools in 1890 cost the State 
(including the local governments) 2,727,627 
drachmas, the pay of the 1,641 teachers being 
1,911,640 drachmas, or about ^38 a head, in 
addition to which they had houses provided (or 
lodging allowances) of 304,040 drachmas, i.e., 
165 drachmas, or about ;^5 los. each. 

The salaries of the gymnasium teachers vary 
from ^20 to ^200 a year, the great majority 
receiving from ^100 to ^120 a year. The 
teachers' salaries per scholar vary from 15 
drachmas a year at Andritsaina to 266 drachmas 
a year at Arta, from 100 to 150 drachmas a year 
being the general amount. 

The amount spent by the State on the Uni- 
versity was in 1876 : 





Drachmas 


On the four Faculties ... 


... 333,240 


,, Library ... 


33,900 


„ Observatory 


14,220 


„ Botanical Garden 


7,760 


„ Archseology 


... 123,690 


Total ... 


... t;i2,8io 



The amount of the State subsidy has scarcely 
increased since 1876. 



EDUCATION 185 



The Institutions subsidiary to the University- 
are : 

(i) The Observatory, built in 1842, at the 
expense of Baron Sina, of Vienna. The director, 
M. D. Aiginetes, has three assistants. 

(2) The Botanical Gardens, once the county- 
seat of a Turkish vaivode, has a German curator 
and a Scotch head-gardener, with a couple of 
under-gardeners. 

(3) Anatomical laboratory, with two professors 
and two assistants. 

(4) A chemical laboratory, with two professors 
and one assistant. 

(5) A pharmacy laboratory, with one professor 
and one assistant. 

(6) A toxicology laboratory, with two professors 
and one assistant. 

(7) The Municipal Hospital, with six professors 
and four assistants. 

(8) A clinical hospital, with two professors and 
three assistants. 

(9) An ophthalmic hospital, with two professors 
and an assistant. 

(10) A children's hospital. 

(11) A lying-in hospital, with one professor 
and two assistants. 

(12) A lock hospital, with one professor (the pre- 
sent Chancellor of the University) and one assistant. 

(13) A natural science museum, with three pro- 
fessors. 



i86 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



(14) A botanical museum, with a curator. 

(15) A pathological museum, with three pro- 
fessors. 

(16) An anthropological museum, with a curator. 

(17) The national library, with five curators 
and two assistants. It contains 170,648 books, 
and 1,312 manuscripts; in the reading-room all 
the principal scientific and literary reviews and 
magazines are to be found. The majority of 
the manuscripts were brought from the Dorikos 
and Meteora monasteries ; they are nearly all 
ecclesiastical. The most remarkable are two 
Gospels of the tenth and eleventh centuries, 
splendidly illuminated, and a small beautifully 
written manuscript which belonged to the Emperor 
Cantacuzene. There are also three golden bulls 
of the Andronici. The books are : 



Greek literature 
Latin „ 

Modern „ 
History ,, 
Geography 
Theology ... 
Law 

Medicine ... 
Physics 
Philology ... 
Miscellaneous 
Recent additions 



Volu7nes. 

10,000 
5,000 
8,500 

r 1,000 
3,600 

12,500 
7,600 
8,000 
7,200 
4,200 

74,890 

18,790 



Female Education. — Ever since the noble 
work of Mr. and Mrs. Hill in the earliest days of 



EDUCATION 187 



modern Greece a good deal of attention has been 
paid to the education of girls. In 1836 the 
Education Society was founded with this object, 
and with the generous help of M. Apostolos 
Arsakes, an Epirot Greek, the Arsakeion was built. 
It has now 1,500 pupils, and a capital of 1,300,000 
drachmas, and has yearly subventions from the 
Government and local governments. The pupils, 
many of whom become school-mistresses, are 
supposed to spend six years in it, after having 
spent three in the elementary schools. There is 
an infant school under the same management. 
There is a similar school for girls at Kerkyra, 
founded in 1868, with over 200 pupils, as well 
as at Eleusis, Gaurion, Kotachovon, and Menidi. 

The society has in its service altogether 40 
professors and 59 school-mistresses. From 1836 
to 1890, 43,963 pupils have passed through 
these schools, of whom 2,500 have become 
teachers. 

The number of pupils of the Arsakeion has 
been : 



1836 ... 


... 150 


1866 ... 


595 


1846 ... 


224 


1876 ... 


■ •• i>432 


1856 ... 


... 650 


1886 ... 


... 1,471 




1890 ... 


... 1,500 





The amount of money spent has been 8,944,295 
drachmas. The amount spent on the Kerkyra 
school has been 1,108,379 drachmas, which is 
included in the above total. Its total pupils 



1 88 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

number 4,648. Over 3,000 girls have passed 
through the other four schools, which have been 
founded nearly thirty years. 250 of the poorer 
girls receive this higher education without pay- 
ment. The expenditure on the six schools in 
1889 was 327,044 drachmas. 

There are a good many private schools for girls 
in Athens. 

The result of all this effort is that Greek 
women get a very fair education, and can get 
a very good one. The girls, however, do not 
make anything like the use of the schools that 
the boys do, chiefly through parental dislike to 
trust them out of sight, a prejudice which is not 
yet entirely unreasonable, though it is no doubt a 
legacy from Turkish times. This is gradually 
being overcome, and then no doubt the girls 
will be allowed to take advantage to the full of 
the ample opportunities offered to them. 

Technical Instruction.— (i) The Metsovian 
(from Metsovo, the birthplace of its founders) 
Polytechnic consists of two departments— an art 
school founded in 1863, and a science school 
founded in 1887. The former had, in 1891, 9 
professors and 122 pupils — 32 for drawing, 6 for 
sculpture, 9 for wood-engraving, 56 for decoration 
and designing. The full course requires seven 
years, except for decoration, which needs three 
only. The science school teaches mechanics, 
engineering, land surveying, road and railway 



EDUCATION 189 



making, building, mineralogy, forestry, book- 
keeping, telegraphy, and applied chemistry. It 
had, in 1891, 21 professors (with 5 assistants) and 
170 pupils. The full course requires four years. 
The yearly income of the Polytechnic is only 
about 17,000 drachmas, but it has State aid to the 
extent of 134,020 drachmas. 

(2) Agricultural Schools. Kapodistria founded 
a school at Tiryns in 1831, and provided it with 
both land and funds ; but it did not realize ex- 
pectations, and was closed in 1865. The school 
at Aidinion, near Almyros, has seven instructors, 
and spends about 60,000 drachmas a year. It is 
much less theoretical and more successful than its 
precursor. There is also a farming school at 
Athens, with ten instructors. Its forestry depart- 
ment is good ; besides disseminating instruction, 
it distributes about 15,000 trees a year. It has 
an aesthetic as well as a utilitarian aim. 

(3) Navigation Schools. Greece, having great 
expectations nautically, has been wise enough to 
provide ample special instruction for her sailors. 
The nucleus of the necessary fund was supplied 
by the patriotic Varvakes (from whose name and 
purse comes the Varvakeion). The earliest was 
opened at the Peiraius in 1882. There are now 
seven. The Peiraius school gave 96 certificates 
between 1887 and 1891 — 15 to Andrians, 15 to 
Kasiots, 1 1 to Kymiots, 10 to Ithakans. The 
other schools are at Syros, which gave 50 



I go GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

certificates in 1891 ; at Spetsai, which gave 10; 
at Hydra, which gave 20 ; at Galaxidi, which 
gave 30 ; at Volo, which gave 1 5 ; and at Argos- 
toli, which has given 150 since its institution. 
Naval officers of high rank sit on the examining 
boards. 

(4) The services are quite sufficiently supplied 
with the means of instruction. The army has : 

(i.) The School of the Evelpids, established 
in 1828, for engineers and artillery — 
originally at Nauplion, now at the 
Peiraius ; all its students must already 
have certificates from the gymnasia. 
The course lasts five years. There 
are over 100 students, 

(ii.) The Subalterns' School, with a three 
years' course, for infantry. 

(iii.) The Reserve School, also requiring 
gymnasium certificates. 

(iv.) and (v.) The Cavalry and Artillery 
Schools for officers already commis- 
sioned. 

(vi.) A small Engineers' School. 
The Naval School, founded at the Peiraius in 
1888, has 37 students. The course is four years. 

(5) There are clergy schools at Chalkis, founded 
in 1857, with 22 students ; Tripolis, founded in 
1858, with 32 ; and Syros, founded in 1862, with 
20. They all need to be reformed and made 
attractive. Perhaps a short attendance at them 



EDUCATION 191 



should eventually be made compulsory for all 
young men seeking orders. 

(6) Archaeological Schools. Although the 
students of these schools are not Hellenes, yet 
they have such an important influence on the 
future of Greece that they cannot well be omitted 
from a list of the technical schools of Greece. 
To many people Greece means archaeological 
wealth rather than agricultural or commercial, so 
that the technical education most a propos would 
be the archaeological. Although there is nominally 
no Greek school, yet archaeology is very well 
looked after in the University and by the Archae- 
ological Society, which has 180 members, and 
receives 1,000 drachmas a year from the University. 
The archaeological schools are : 

(i.) The French School, founded in 1846, 
with which are associated the names of 
Beul6, Burnouf, Collignon, Paul Fou- 
card, Garnier, Girard, Hanriot, Haus- 
soullier, Homolle, Lebegue, Lenormant, 
Martha, Reinach, and Riemann. It 
has, since 1870, published eight times 
a year a Bulletin de Correspondence 
HelUnique. 
(ii.) The German School, founded in 1874. 
The names best known in connection 
with it are those of Adler, A. Botticher, 
Bohn, Curtius, Dorpfeld, Forchhamner, 
B. Forster, Hirschfeld, Jahn, Kaupert, 



192 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

H. Lolling, Michaelis, Milchhofer, and 
A. Mliller. It has, since 1876, published 
a quarterly journal, Mittheilungen des 
Deutschen Archiiologischen Institutes, 
in Athens, 
(iii.) The American School, founded in 1881. 
It was the home of L. Beier, Fowler. 
Richardson, and J. R. Wheeler, and 
still is of Dr. Waldstein, the curator 
of our Fitzwilliam Museum. It has 
published ' Papers of the American 
School of Classical Studies at Athens ' 
yearly since 1883. 
(iv.) The English School, founded in 1886. 
Its most familiar names are those of 
Mr. Penrose, for many years the chief 
authority on the Parthenon and Athenian 
architecture generally, and Mr. Ernest 
Gardner. Its work is chronicled in the 
Journal of Hellenic Studies. It has 
had 32 students. 
Summary. — There are two objections brought 
to the educational system — the one that Greece 
is under-educated, the other that she is over- 
educated. Nor does the one objection answer 
the other ; for the former may be meant to apply 
to elementary education, and the latter to higher 
education, or vice-versa. The facts displayed in 
the preceding pages go to prove that Greece has 
considerably fewer children in her primary schools 



EDUCATION 193 



than most other European nations, although the 
deficiency is largely caused by feminine truantism, 
and, at the same time, a larger proportion than in 
other countries proceed to severer studies. The 
obvious retort of the Greek to a charge of rest- 
less ambition founded on these facts is that, 
through the unwisdom or inexperience of the 
parents, the children are often not sent to school ; 
but when they do go, the fondness for learning 
inherent in the Greek heart impels a large pro- 
portion of them to continue the pursuit of learn- 
ing. The truth, as usual, lies between these two 
extremes. The parents, especially in the country 
districts, would often rather have their boys at 
work on their little farms than trying to be better 
than their fathers, with the unpleasant possibility 
of lessened respect, apart from the simple reason 
that knowing nothing of books themselves, they 
see no good in them. The boys not only learn 
to read, and so become the natural prey of ambi- 
tion, but have their feelings of rivalry aroused. 
As novel-reading can become a dangerous stimu- 
lant, so with these raw country youths political 
talk, which they soon get to understand and take 
part in, has an exciting effect. Curiosity makes 
the old home routine look very dull ; they must 
go to the nearest gymnasium. The influence of 
town life on country boys is not incontestably 
good, besides which the secondary schools are 
accused by Greek educational experts of usurping 

^3 



194 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

the functions of the gymnasia. The same thing 
goes on while they are there, but with extended 
knowledge and wider wonder and hopes ; they 
must go to Athens. After this it is quite simple 
to choose a professional career. The wiser choose 
medicine ; the more ambitious or sentimental arts ; 
the greatest number law, chiefly because there 
will be more talking to do, or, rather, perhaps 
because they unconsciously fancy that there will 
be less working than talking, and all Greeks love 
talking, and many of them are good talkers. 
The Bar is not a prosperous body ; ;i^i,ooo a 
year is very rare among them, and an eight- 
penny fee is not always refused. There are 
nearly as large a proportion of barristers out of 
work in Greece as in England, and they have not 
the same length of paternal purse to fall back 
upon when clients refuse to come. As for the 
arts men, some of them go in for politics, and 
some for journalism, and some into the Civil 
Service. The best of them, those with grit as 
well as versatility, succeed ; many of them fail. 

It must not be imagined that these first-genera- 
tion professional men necessarily smell of the 
plough or the fishing-boat. By no means. Most 
of them take a certain amount of polish very 
rapidly. A barrister whom I knew very well 
when I was at Athens had worked his way up in 
the manner I have described ; but his affection 
for his humble home in the Peloponnese, for the 



EDUCATION 19s 



old couple, and even for the girl he left behind 
him, was very real and dignified. He was not 
one of the failures ; nor was his ambition obtrusive. 
He meant to get on, and he worked. He had 
picked up French and German, and got a little 
English out of me ; and the last I heard of him 
was that he meant to travel for a year or so — 
Italy, France, England, and the United States. 
The remarkable thing about him was his polish — 
the j'e ne sais quoi which made you admit he was 
a gentleman. Nor was it merely external ; I 
could not imagine him doing a mean thing. You 
will think perhaps that his is an altogether ex- 
ceptional case. I admit that he was above the 
average ; but yet in many of the young Greeks 
whom I have met there has been something of 
this same gentlemanliness. 

I have perhaps in this sketch laid myself open 
to attack from those who assert that what Greece 
wants is not men of culture, but of agriculture. 
But this does not follow — is not even in probable 
sequence. There are plenty of strong arms left 
to till the fields ; a few thousand students more or 
less can make no appreciable gap. And these 
very students will some of them teach farming, 
some will make roads, some will write leaders 
tending to the diminution of crime, and all of 
them will spread around them the desire for 
knowledge. The standard will be raised. Im- 
proved general knowledge in the country means 



196 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

improved agriculture, stimulated commerce, and, 
above all, that increased reverence for the State 
and her laws which make better farming and 
wider industries possible. Mr. Lewis Sergeant 
says that even if the students did make a big 
hiatus in the ranks of manual labour, ' it would 
be difficult to decide upon the comparative ad- 
vantage to their country of men who sacrifice 
knowledge to gain, and of men who sacrifice 
gain to knowledge.' The whole question was 
fought out and settled in England when public 
elementary education was decided on, and has 
been determined by all other civilized countries 
in the same way. If it is rather out of date to say 
that a man is over-educated, the same thing is 
surely true of a country. If a man's hiring- value 
goes up with his increase of mental weight, a 
couple of million men's hiring-value will do the 
same, and part of this value goes to make up the 
wealth of the State. 

The case is very well stated in Professor Jebb's 
' Progress of Greece.' He says : ' Where a school 
and university education is opened free of charge 
to a people of keen intellectual appetite, it is 
natural that an unusually large proportion of 
persons should go through the university course. 
And where, as in Greece, agriculture is under a 
system which gives little scope to the higher sort 
of intelligence, while there is neither public nor 
private capital enough to provide employment for 



EDUCATION 197 



many architects or civil engineers, it is natural 
that an unduly large proportion of university 
graduates should turn to one of the liberal pro- 
fessions, or to some calling in which their literary 
training can be made available.' He then goes 
on to show that it is the influx of Greeks from 
Turkey that aggravates this abundance of educated 
men into a surplus ; but, quoting M. Lenormant, 
who says that ' the j'ole of Greece in the con- 
temporary East closely resembles her role in 
antiquity,' shows that, although over-education 
may for the present be a difficulty to Greece 
herself, the Levant in general is immensely obliged 
to her for it. It may be mentioned that in all 
post-Byzantine days, even although Greece was 
not free, she has been fulfilling this duty. The 
important underlying truth to remember, however, 
is that, whether with conscious intention or not, 
Greece is thus paving the way for herself to Con- 
stantinople — is building a fortress-ring, not only 
of hearts that beat to the Panhellenic inspiration, 
they have long been ready, but of trained intel- 
ligence which shall give her the alternative choice 
of superior military skill or talented diplomacy. 

Meanwhile, these lithesome brains are gradually 
finding something to do. Although university 
graduates are more numerous at Athens than 
ever, the number unemployed is slowly but 
steadily decreasing. With extending commerce 
come openings for barristers, journalists, and 



198 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

intelligent business men. For some years to 
come these ambitious young men, adventurers in 
an inoffensive sense, will embarrass their relations 
and the Government ; but the corner has been 
turned, and in the end what they have learnt 
will well repay their country and, let us hope, 
themselves. 



[ 199 1 



CHAPTER XIV. 



CULTURE. 



Books — Newspapers — Learned Societies — Fine Arts — 
Physical Culture. 

Books. 

It would be foreign to my purpose to give a 
history of modern Greek literature. The object 
of this chapter is simply to show what the 
people read. I think the safest way of doing 
this will be to give a sample-page or two from 
the last catalogue of the chief publishing -house 
in Athens, the ' Hestia ' : 



/. — School-books. 

A thanasoulas — Calligraphy 
Apostolopoulos — Reading-book ... 
Bratsanos — Alphabetarion ... 

„ The New Robinson — 


Drachmas. 
... -50 

... I-I5 
... -30 
- (i.e., 


Crusoe) geographical 
Bratsanos — Old Testament History 


... 1-25 
I 


New 


... -So 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 





Drachmas. 


Bratsanos- 


—Scenes from the Greek Revolt 


1- 


tion 


... ... • ■ . • ■ • 


• 1-25 


Bratsanos- 


—Geography of Greece 


• 1-25 


Drosines— 


-Tales 


. -So 


■> > 


A Campaigner's Stories 


. -So 


Kondyles- 


-Elementary Natural History . 


. -So 


>j 


,, Botany 


. -So 


J) 


Zoology ... 


. -So 



//. — Dictionaries. 

Amongst the dictionaries we notice : 

Drachmas. 

Barbates — French - Modern Greek Dic- 
tionary ,., ... ... ... ... 25 

Bontyras — Dictionary of History and 

Geography ... ... ... ... 300 

Rangabes — Dictionary of Greek Archae- 
ology 30 

Lascarides — English -Modern Greek Dic- 
tionary ... ... ... ... ... 24 

///. — General. 

Drachmas. 

The Holy Passion and the Holy Resurrec- 
tion (656 pages, bound) ... ... ... 3 

Anninos — Here and There (historical 

essays) ... ... ... ... ... 4 

Apostolides, P. — Animation ... ... 5 

Arabantinos — Collection of Popular Songs 

of Epiros ... ... ... ... ... 10 



CULTURE 



Drachmas. 

Arabantinos — Annals of Epiros ... ... 25 

Athanasieff — Microbiology (translation) ... 6 
Abadie Leroy — Elementary Pathological 

Anatomy (translation) ... ... ... 6 

Apostolides, N. Ch. — The Animal King- 
dom ... ... ... ... ... 28 

Basiliades — Attic Nights (poems and 

essays, 4 vols.) ... ... ... ... 20 

Balaorites — Poems (2 vols.) ... ... 7 

Blachos — Lyric Poems ... ... ... 5 

„ Translations from Lamartine . . 3 

„ Lessing ... 4 

,, The Homeric Question ... 2 

JV.~Novels. 

There is not yet the same standard of national 
romance-writing as of verse-making ; most of the 
novels advertised are translations, among the 
authors being Mrs. Craik, Mary Lafone, Mayne 
Reid, Scott, Dumas, Victor Hugo, Paul de Kock, 
Ohnet, Sue, and Jules Verne. 



V. — De luxe (bound). 

Paganeles — Across the Isthmus ... 

Memoirs of Kolokotrones 

Soures — Poems 
Meliarakes — Zoology 
,, The Cat 



Drachmas. 

4 

3 
12-50 

7 
2-50 



202 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

Drachmas 
Rangabes — Herakles and other Dramas ... lo 
,, Theodora ... ... ... lo 

Athens — Album of Twelve Photographs... 5 

Lists I., III., and V., are taken in alphabetical 
order from the catalogue. 



Newspapers. 




There are 131 papers 


Dublished in 


Greece thus 


distributed : 








Papers, i to 


— Inhabitants. 


Attika-Boiotia 


■ 56 


4,602 


Kyklades 


• IS 


8,769 


Zakynthos ... 


• 5 


8,814 


Larissa 


II 


15.275 


Kerkya 


6 


19,089 


Kephallenia ... 


4 


20,044 


Achaia-Ehs ... 


9 


23,412 


Lakonia 


4 


31-522 


Akarnania-Aitolia . 


• 5 


32,404 


Argolis-Korinth 


■ 4 


36,209 


Trikkala 


• 3 


47-714 


Arkadia 


■ 3 


49,428 


Euboia 


2 


51-721 


Phthiotis-Phokis 


2 


68,235 


Messenia 


2 


91,616 


Total 


i6,6q6 



It may seem odd that Messenia, which ranks 
so high in intermediate education, should publish 



CULTURE 203 

the fewest newspapers ; perhaps it reads the 
Athenian papers more than other provinces, or 
perhaps it prefers books to newspapers. 

The number pubHshed on the mainland, then, 
is 79, or 60 per cent, of the total ; in the Pelopon- 
nesos, 22 ; in the Kyklades, 15 ; and in the Ionian 
Islands 15. As to towns, Athens supplies 51, or 
nearly 40 per cent. ; Hermoupolis, 8 ; Ldrissa, 6 ; 
Patras, Zakynthos, and Volo, 5 each. 

Sixty are political and social, 9 political and 
literary, 9 political and legal, 9 political and com- 
mercial, 28 scientific and literary, 6 legal, 2 com- 
mercial and financial, 6 satirical. 

The names are so suggestive that I think the 
list is worth giving : 

'Archaeological Journal,' founded in 1837. 

' Palingenesia ' (Regeneration), founded in 1857. 

'Children's Journal,' 'Word,' ' Times,' 'Journal,' 
'Aristophanes,' 'Athens Messenger' (in French), 
' Hestia,' ' Phcebus,' ' Thesmoi ' (after Drako's 
laws), 'Morning,' founded from 1861 to 1870. 

'Calm,' 'Children's Improver,' 'Journal of Greek 
and French Jurisprudence,' ' Helikon,' ' Akro- 
polis,' ' Globe,' ' New Journal,' ' New Themis,' 
'Day,' 'Providence,' ' Paleanthropos ' (Scamp), 
' Hermes,' ' Report of the Historical and Ethno- 
logical Society,' 'Review,' ' Romeos,' 'Attic 
Museum,' 'Apollo,' 'Week,' 'Greek Farming,' 
'City,' 'Greek Guide,' 'Ladies' Journal,' 



204 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

' Saviour,' ' Reform,' ' Acheloos,' ' Children's 
Periodical,' ' World,' founded from 1871 to 1880. 

' Pharmaceutic and Therapeutic News,' ' Athena, 
'Themis,' 'Prometheus,' 'Nature,' 'Army 
Medical Journal,' 'General Review,' 'Journal 
of Handicrafts,' ' Parnassos,' ' Chance,' ' Econo- 
mist,' ' Education,' ' Fine Art,' ' Agricultural 
Progress,' 'Socialist,' 'Cat,' ' Phthiotis,' 'Ther- 
mopylai,' ' Byron,' ' Aitolian Confederation,' 
'Citizen,' 'Akarnania,' 'Popular Education,' 
' Tax-payer,' ' Lantern,' ' Commercial Observer,' 
'Proof,' 'Alpheios,' ' Peloponnesos,' 'Waker,' 
' Mentor,' ' Patras Echo,' ' Kalamai Journal,' 
' Erane Echo,' ' Lakonia,' ' Dawn,' ' Combat,' 
'Sparta,' 'Arkadia,' 'Tripolis,' 'Tegea,' 'Argolis,' 
' Independence,' ' Progress,' ' Agamemnon,' 
'Euripos,' 'Reflux,' 'Fatherland,' 'Sun,"Truth,' 
'Orient,' 'L'Orient' (in French), 'New Siphnos,' 
'Time,' 'Hermoupolis Journal,' 'Thera,' founded 
from 1 88 1 to 1890. 

' Naxos,' ' Santorin,' ' New Andros,' ' Country,' 
' People's Journal,' ' Inspector,' ' Concord,' 
' Pegasos,' ' Rhegas,' ' News' Journal,' 'Hatchet,' 
founded in 1891. 

' People,' ' Improvement,' ' Hope,' ' Justice,' 
' Spectator,' ' New Age,' ' Epoch,' ' National 
Greatness,' ' Tempe,' ' Volo,' ' Trumpet,' 
' Pagassa,' ' Nightingale,' ' Kissavos,' 'Constitu- 
tional,' 'Tablet,' 'Voice of the People,' ' Karditsa,' 
' Thessaliotis,' 'Caustic,' founded in 1892. 



CULTURE 



205 



The circulation of all the 131 papers together 
is, however, only 110,953, oi" ^ little more than a 
third of the daily circulation of our Standard. 
The ' Akropolis ' has the largest number of sub- 
scribers — 10,000 ; and the ' Helikon ' the smallest 

—25- 

Roumania has 30 newspapers. 

The Greek press originated in the enthusiasm 
and energy of Col. Leicester Stanhope, who in 
1822 began to print his first paper at Meso- 
longhi, being assisted by Lord Byron. Stanhope 
afterwards started a paper at Athens. Journals 
were not numerous under King Otho, but they 
contributed greatly to the popular zeal on behalf 
of education and progress. At the Paris Ex- 
hibition of 1867 nearly a hundred papers were 
shown. 

At the present time the Greek press is a very 
powerful organ for good. There is no press 
censure, and although in the spring of last year 
this was in some quarters supposed to be regret- 
able, there can be little doubt that to in any way 
fetter it would be a great mistake. The case of 
Egypt is by no means analogous. There a certain 
number of papers are directly organized against 
the English influence ; they are indirectly (per- 
haps even directly) supported by France and 
Russia. Their lying-power is to their intellectual 
weight what a thousand horse-power would be in 
a steamer of twenty tons burden ; and there are 



2o6 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

no papers in the English interest to counteract 
them. In Greece, on the contrary, if the papers 
are sometimes exaggerative in their facts and 
vehement in their exhortations, they are at least 
up to the French standard in truthfulness, and 
not much below it in literary merit. Indeed, 
there is a picturesqueness in Greek journalistic 
style which is not to be found elsewhere, due 
partly, I surmise, to their Orientality, and pardy 
to their familiarity with the best literature the 
world has produced. 

Learned Societies. 

I need hardly remind Philhellenes of the part 
taken by the Syllogoi in the liberation of Greece. 
These societies have always had an ostensible 
intellectual object, but willy-nilly the Panhellenic 
idea has almost invariably forced itself into their 
notice. They exist to-day in greater numbers 
than ever, both in Greece and out of it, especially 
in the big Greece of Hellenic dreams — to. KpcTtj 
Tov a'lfjLov, as they call Turkey, Roumania, Bulgaria, 
Servia, and Montenegro. There is, indeed, a 
freemasonry of blood which binds the Greeks of 
free Hellas to those of still enslaved Hellas. The 
most important syllogues in Athens are : 

(i) The Parnassos Literary Society, founded 
in 1865, had, in 1891, 849 members. It meets 
once a month, and gives weekly public readings. 
It maintains a school for poor boys, some of 



CULTURE 



207 



whom are Cretans. In 1890 they numbered 
161. 

(2) The Byron Society, founded in 1868. 
Byron's heart is still at Mesolonghi, and he is 
loved in Greece as much as his poetry is admired 
in England. The Panhellenic Companion for 
this year opens with a Greek version of the lines 
beginning : 

' He who hath bent him o'er the dead, 
Ere the first day of death is fled — ' 

The society erected a statue of Lord Byron at 
Mesolonghi, which was unveiled on September 24, 
1 88 1, when the little town was en fete for three 
days, a considerable force of infantry and artillery 
having been sent to join in the grateful demonstra- 
tion. The society is chiefly engaged In educa- 
tional work, and sends consignments of books for 
public use to different towns and villages ; its 
attempts in the direction of free village libraries 
have not yet succeeded. It published a periodical 
from 1877 to 1 88 1. 

(3) Society for the Propagation of Hellenic 
Literature, founded in 1869, with a present 
membership of 1,200, and a capital of 1,500,000 
drachmas. It consists of four sections : 

(i.) Law and Politics, 

(ii.) Literature and Archaeology, 

(iii.) Physics, 

(iv.) Fine Arts. 



2o8 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

It has founded and maintains several schools ; it 
grants subsidies in aid of poor schools ; it prints 
and distributes school - books ; it pays for the 
education abroad of fifteen young men destined 
to become teachers, and takes an especial interest 
in Greek geography. It succeeds in doing a large 
amount of useful work. 

{4) The Society of the Friends of Education, 
whose splendid operations have been already 
mentioned (page 187). 

(5) The Historical and Ethnological Society, 
founded in 1883. It has a museum containing 
126 historical pictures, and 8,000 documents. 

(6) The Physical Science Society, founded in 

1887, had a membership in 1892 of 120. It 
organizes tuition, lectures and demonstrations, 
and scientific excursions into the country. It is 
about to open a special scientific library and read- 
ing-room, and commence a periodical. 

(7) The Athens Scientific Society, founded in 

1888, with a very professorial membership, seeks 
to promote scientific investigation and training in 
various way, and publishes the 'Athena.' 

(8) The Teachers' Society, founded in 1873, 
has as its object the improvement of middle and 
higher education. It had 300 members in 1892. 
It has several times successfully memorialized the 
different Governments in the interest of educa- 
tion. It has a library of 3,000 volumes, and a 
reading-room, and publishes the ' Plato.' 



CULTURE 



209 



(9) The Orient, or Asia Minor, Society, lool<;s 
after the historical and archaeological interests of 
Asia Minor. 

(10) The Academy, founded in 1859 ; at least, 
King Otho in that year laid the foundation-stone 
of the beautiful building which Baron Sina, of 
Vienna, presented for the purposes of an academy. 
It cost about three million drachmas. The Baron's 
widow added an endowment of ;^io,ooo. But 
there are no academicians ; there is something of 
the English prejudice against picking out a team 
of forty and giving them national colours for life, 
and there is also the difficulty of the original 
selection. It would, at any rate, have to be 
either by the King or by the whole nation — say, 
at a new Olympian Congress, or by a newspaper 
referendum. 

The Library of the Chamber of Deputies 
should also be mentioned ; it contains over i 35,000 
volumes, and has a splendid collection of Greek 
works of all kinds written between the capture of 
Constantinople and 1833, got together with the 
express intention that the continuity of spirit 
from at least Byzantine days may have a living 
force. 

There are a great many societies distributed 
over the towns of Greece : fine art societies, as 
at Kerkyra ; law clubs, as at Kalamai and Sparta ; 
dramatic societies, as at Kerkyra ; commercial 
guilds, as at Nauplion ; political societies, as at 

14 



210 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

Zakynthos ; and teachers' societies, as at Kerkyra ; 

besides clubs, which are partly social and partly 

literary. 

Fine Arts. 

In the early days of King Otho there was still 
a Greek school of painters ; they were almost all 
trained on the Holy Mountain, and journeyed 
about Greece painting pictures and screens for 
the churches. This painting is still done ; but 
there is no special school, and no special excel- 
lence. It was never very high art at its best. 
At present painting is almost entirely neglected, 
although during the last few years the subject has 
aroused considerable interest in Athens, and in 
1 89 1 M. Giallinas, a water-colour painter, ex- 
hibited in London with some success, and M. 
Rhoilos in the Salon. In the same year there 
was an exhibition in Athens of paintings by 
Greek ladies. 

Sculpture is in a rather more forward state, 
some of the copies of Tanagra works showing 
genuine talent (although many of these are done 
by Italians) ; the statue of Varvakes by the late 
M. Drosos, placed in the Zappeion Square, is 
generally pronounced excellent. 

Music is not neglected. The Odeum, founded 
in 1876, has M. Trikoupes for its president, and 
has done a great deal towards introducing 
Western music in lieu of the weird Turkish 
chaunts which had almost come to be looked on 



CULTURE 211 

as national. It has not penetrated the Pelopon- 
nesian fastnesses yet, and a music-hall entertain- 
ment such as you get at Megalopolis or Sparta is 
a thing not to be easily forgotten. The dances, 
too, so admirably described by Mr. Rodd, are 
trodden to the old Turkish hum. In Athens 
itself all this is changing. At the music-halls 
there and in the streets you hear the more or less 
latest airs from London and Paris. The Odeum 
has 14 professors, including several Germans, 
and teaches the theory of music, the various 
instruments, singing, and elocution. It has over 
300 pupils, and gets financial help from the 
State. 

The Philharmonic Society, founded in 1888, 
has the special aim of fixing the Greek style of 
music. It has over 400 members, some very 
distinguished honorary members, such as Gounod, 
Thomas, Saint-Saens, and Kremser, and is very 
"popular"..; It gives about half a dozen concerts a 
year. 

There is a Byzantine Sacred Musical Society. 
French and Italian companies, though not of 
very great calibre,, come to Athens and Phaleron, 
and assist in the process of education. What 
struck me most was the very high average of 
piano-playing, very much higher than in England. 
The country-people are very fond of their music, 
such as it is ; but the too minute sub-division of 
the tone, and the too great assistance derived 



212 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

from the nose, make their singing very unmusical. 
It may be argued that if they had really had 
music in their souls, they would not have tolerated 
the Oriental monotone, and would have invented 
a proper scale on their own account ; but I think 
this is asking rather too much. I believe when 
once their musical tendency is directed into a 
good German channel, they will prove themselves 
to be a very musical people. 

Physical Culture. 

As Greece rather models her civilization on 
that of France than on that of England, it will 
be surmised, and rightly, that her physical educa- 
tion is in a backward state. At the same time, 
Greece is not a land of big cities, and plenty of 
exercise can be obtained in a country which is 
half mountain without a M.C.C. or a Rugby 
Football Union. 

There can be no doubt about the wiriness of 
the race. Their physical endurance was an object 
of frequent admiration during the War of Inde- 
pendence, and they have by no means deteriorated 
since. An ' Olympia at Athens ' is often mooted. 
There is a rowing-club at the Peiraius, and three 
cycling-clubs at Athens and one at the Peiraius. 



[ 213 ] 



CHAPTER XV. 

ARCHEOLOGY. 

As this treatise has an economic and political 
design, Greek archeeology pure and simple has 
no place in it. But Greece and Italy are in this 
respect differently situated from the rest of the 
world. They possess extra capital in their anti- 
quarian treasure quite out of proportion to their 
agricultural and commercial wealth. Although 
England is by no means poor in antiquities, yet 
their ratio to her total wealth is insignificant. In 
Italy and Greece this is not so. In the case of 
Greece, indeed, it is by no means certain that her 
antiquarian wealth does not actually exceed her 
other capital. It may be argued, perhaps, that 
though an American syndicate might make an 
offer to buy and transplant the Parthenon to 
Beacon Hill, Boston, and might not haggle about 
a few million dollars more or less in the price, 
expecting it to prove of infinitely greater drawing 
power than the Eiffel Tower, the Greeks would 



2 14 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

never dream of parting with their ' marble lily.' 
Of course they would not ; but it is always there 
as a reserve fund. And if the Parthenon would 
draw at Boston, where it would be out of harmony 
with nature, not to speak of the utter incongruity 
of mixing the Hellenic idea with the Bostonian, 
why should it not draw ' in its violet crown,' 
where the echoes of old Greek life are wafted 
through the pellucid air, and flowers and birds 
and human faces are as of yore ? 

Italy finds its currency difficulties much lightened 
by the golden millions left in the country every 
year by tourists. So far, Greece only gains a few 
thousand pounds in this way ; but every year, 
especially with Egypt under our protection, brings 
her more guests. It is true that Hellenic pride 
is so great that she will not take their money for 
her great peep-shows. In this her lofty spirit is 
antipodean to the Italian humble avarice that 
demands a lira or so every time you go from one 
room to another in her museums. But if she 
levies no direct tax, we may be sure that she will 
get no slight gain indirectly when the tourist 
world shall have found out Greece. At present, 
apart from the passage des anglais from Egypt, 
Greece is visited only by antiquarians, Phil- 
hellenes, and le tres hatit ton ; but, as in the case 
of the Rhine and Switzerland and Italy, so in the 
case of Greece, the footsteps of milords and 
savants will be trodden in sooner or later by the 



ARCHEOLOGY 215 

nouveaux riches and the vietix pauvres, and some 
day we shall find Cook organizing great expedi- 
tions of working-men to Athens and back under 
the auspices of South Kensington or the People's 
Palace. 

But her antiquarian wealth has another, per- 
haps finally greater, value to Greece. By its 
means her children add with wonderful ease a 
higher culture to their practical and technical 
education — a culture which not only must make 
them pleasanter and more orderly citizens, but 
must become of cash-value to them. Nor can 
we deny that a real appreciation of the glories of 
the Akropolis, the mysterious charm of her moun- 
tain temples and fortresses, and the bold memories 
of Olympia, are likely to accentuate the already 
wide-spread Panhellenic idea. And this, if it 
anticipates greater responsibilities, also expects 
the greater wealth which goes with wider territory. 

Another gain to Hellas from her marble 
treasures is the development of good taste in 
architecture. Modern Athens was spoilt by the 
Bavarians, who were neither artistic designers 
nor artful builders. However, she now has 
several fine buildings, notably the University, 
the University Library, the Academy, and the 
two museums. Her new streets are well laid out 
and well built in the Parisian style ; her wealth 
in buildings, public and private, should at no 
distant date be very considerable. 



2i6 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

The actual wealth of her museums is enormous. 
In Athens there are the Central Museum {i.e., 
central for all Greece), with its magnificent statues, 
friezes, reliefs, tombstones, and coins (this depart- 
ment is very well looked after ; it contains 527 
gold, 10,638 silver, 19,275 bronze, 1,979 lead, 38 
others, 268 facsimiles, 5,356 badly preserved — a 
total of 38,081); the Polytechnic Institute, with 
Mykenian (and Egyptian) antiquities — a wonder- 
ful display of gold — vases, terra - cottas, and 
bronzes; the Akropolis Museum, with the treasures 
found on the sacred hill itself ; not to speak of 
the private collections of M. Karapanos (Dodona 
finds), M. Lambros, M. Philemon, M. Rhou- 
sopoulos, the late Dr. Schliemann (chiefly Ilian), 
and the various archaeological schools. There is 
also a Christian Archaeological Society, under the 
patronage of the Queen, which has a well-filled 
little museum and an almanack. 

Outside Athens, too, museums are very plenti- 
ful. If Greeks do not like their treasures carried 
off by strangers, no more do the different towns 
like theirs carried off to Athens. The old inde- 
pendent State feeling is still very strong. Sparta 
would indignantly resent sending such hostages 
to Athens. In addition to this feeling, the Greek 
Government believes that t\i& pieces de demonstra- 
tion can teach their lessons more clearly on the 
spot than they would if all congregated at Athens 
— a proof of their sincerity when they maintain 



ARCHEOLOGY 217 

that the Elgin Marbles would be of more service 
to art in Athens than in London. Besides, if we 
may again import a commercial aim, the amount 
of money spent by travellers making the round 
of the principal local museums at Mykenai, 
Sparta, Olympia, Delos, Delphi, etc., not to 
speak of the smaller ones at Dimitzana, Larissa, 
Syros, Thespiai, Epidauros, Tanagra, Messene, 
Chaironeia, and, in fact, in nearly all towns on old 
sites, would be something considerable. The 
civilizing effect of this contact with the West is 
also of very great importance. 

The great interest now taken by Greeks in the 
unburying of her past is also proof of the progress 
she has made in the last thirty years. From the 
fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries, although 
the Renaissance had done much for Greek litera- 
ture, it had done little for Greek archaeology, by 
which alone the literature could have the freshness 
and accurate vigour of life. The eighteenth cen- 
tury and the first part of the nineteenth opened 
the way to investigations of great value ; this was 
the English period, the heyday of the Dilettanti 
and at its close of the immortal Leake. When 
Greece became free, she invited the help of 
Europe, and France and Germany joined Eng- 
land in the explorations. In 1858 the Greek 
Archaeological Society was founded, and thence- 
forward the Greeks have done a great deal of the 
work for themselves. But, not only is this zeal 



2i8 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



of theirs a proof of their intellectual and aesthetic 
progress, it is still more a pledge of their solvency. 
Is it humanly conceivable that a race with such 
traditions to be proud of, with such heirlooms to 
hand on to their children, would ever repudiate 
their just debts and run the risk of seeing, not 
only their dearest hopes abandoned, but the very 
relics of their ancestors in the hands of an inter- 
national official-receiver ? 

The real position is exactly the reverse. Greece 
is herself the natural guardian of the greatest art- 
treasures in the world, and is morally responsible 
for their safe keeping. Whether from this motive 
or not, in this spirit she acts. The careless treat- 
ment of works of art spoken of by travellers fifty 
years ago has entirely ceased. At the same time, 
the world makes no return to Greece for her careful 
and, for her, expensive guardianship. Although 
she has never repudiated, and never can, she is 
always treated by the financial world as if she 
were on the verge of repudiation. The case of 
trustees is proverbially hard ; but they can usually 
relinquish their trusts. Greece cannot even do this, 
for she sincerely believes that such relinquishing 
would itself be a breach of trust ; and whoever 
has contrasted the impression made on him by 
the antiquities in situ, in their proper colour- 
surroundings and their only fitting environment, 
with those he received when visiting the British 
Museum — and not only the sentimental impres- 



ARCHEOLOGY 219 



sions, but the knowledge assimilated equally — 
will hold that Greece is right. At least in 
sympathy, Greece has great claims on the civi- 
lized world which are never met. 

Leake, writing in 1821, mentions the following 
places as those where excavations might be made : 
In the Peloponnesos. — Amyklai, Asine, Dyme, 
Elis, Epidauros, Gytheion (G.), Hermione, 
the Isthmos, Kainepolis, Kleitor, Korone, 
Mantineia (F.), Megalopolis (E.), Messene, 
Nemea, Olympia (Gen), Orchomenos, 
Pallene, Phigaleia, Phlius, Prasiai, Psophis, 
Sikyon (A.), Thuria, Thyraia, Troezen, 
and the Hieron near Epidauros (G.), the 
Heraion near Argos, and the Sanctuaries 
of Zeus and Despoina in Arkadia. 
In Attika, Boiotia, etc. — Delphi (F.), Eleusis 
(G.), and many others of the Demi of Attika, 
Elateia, Eretreia (A.), Histiaia, and several 
other cities of Euboia, Haliartos, Herakleia, 
the Grove of the Muses on Mount Helikon, 
Chaironeia (G.), Coroneia, Cyrrha, Opus, 
Orchomenos (Schliemann), Plataia (A.), 
Tanagra, Thespiai, Thronion, the Oracular 
Fane of Apollo on Mount Ptoon (F.), and the 
temple of Athena Iloneia in Boiotia. 
In Thessaly. — Demetrias, Gomphoi, Kyretiai, 
Metropolis, Pagasai, Pelinnaion, and Thebes. 
In Akarnania. — ^niadai, Argos, Stratos 
(Ger.), and Thyreia. 



2 20 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

In Aitolia. — Kalydon and Thermos. 

[In Epiros.— Gytomai, Kassope, Kichyros, 
Pandosela, Passaron and Phoenike.J 

He says 'In all these places the state of the 
soil appears to indicate that the sites have been 
little disturbed since the respective places fell to 
ruins, and to promise a rich harvest of ancient 
remains.' [The letters placed after the names of 
places signify the school by which the site has 
been explored and excavations made : A. = 
American school, E. = English, F. = French, 
G. = Greek, Ger. = German.] It will be noticed 
that the Greeks have done a great deal of the 
work themselves. Besides these little-disturbed 
sites, a great many others have been excavated — 
notably various parts of Athens, Mykenai, and 
Tiryns (by Schliemann), and Delos (by the 
French). 

Excavation is not, however, quite as expensive 
an amusement as might be imagined, although 
where occupiers have to be expropriated and 
houses pulled down, as at Delphi, it may even 
exceed expectation. The usual viodits operandi 
is for a couple of members of the school to go 
and prospect ; the director, acting under his 
committee, decides whether excavation is to be 
begun. If they decide in favour of it, the director 
communicates with the Greek Government, which 
consults its head ephor. Permission is almost 
invariably granted, subject to the two conditions. 



ARCHEOLOGY 221 

that all treasure-trove be surrendered, after a fair 
period for examination, to the Government, and 
that an ephor be present during the excavating 
to represent Greek interests. The ephors are, 
generally speaking, men of good general attain- 
ments, as well as experienced practical archaeo- 
logists, especially M. Kavvadias, the chief ephor 
and able cataloguer of the Athenian Museums, 
M. Leonardos, and M. Kastromenos, brother-in-law 
of the late Dr. Schliemann. They are not likely 
to create much difficulty. Having taken up your 
abode in the nearest village to your site, or, if 
there be none conveniently near, pitched your 
tent close to your scene of operations, you set 
about your task. In the former case you will 
have no difficulty as to labour ; in the latter you 
will have had to bring your labourers to the spot 
and either encamp them or build temporary huts 
for them. The labour itself is cheap, men 
receiving from is. ^d. to 2s. a day, and girls 
about half that amount. So you have 50 men 
and 50 girls working from sunrise to sunset for 
about ^200 a month ; though, allowing for the 
customary holidays, it is always a good deal less. 
The English school is unfortunately by far the 
poorest of the four. The French and German 
schools get grants from their respective Govern- 
ments in aid of their work, and the American 
school gets dollars in abundance from its 
millionaire patrons at home. Meanwhile, the 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



English school, even with the help of the 
Hellenic Society and the Universities of Oxford 
and Cambridge, cannot afford to spend more than 
about ;^300 a year on excavations. It indeed 
has only a score or two of subscribers. I hope 
it will not be thought mal a propos either to the 
matter or to the manner of this treatise for me to 
append the name and address of the secretary — 

Walter Leaf, Esq., 

Old Change, E.C. 

Subscriptions to the school not only assist in 
increasing our knowledge of ancient Greek life, 
but distinctly help to bring Greece back again to 
life, to the full Periklean life ; and while doing 
this, they shed lustre on the name of England. 

It may be well, perhaps, to refer to the question 
of the restoration of the Elgin Marbles. Every 
year or so it is rumoured in Athens that we are 
going to send these stolen treasures back. Eng- 
land is the only nation in the world which has 
ever been known to surrender valuable territory 
unthreatened and simply on sentimental grounds. 
If England gave up the Ionian Islands, they 
argue, worth several millions sterling, why should 
they not give back the marbles, which, if put up 
to auction in lots, would hardly fetch a million. 
Captain Trant, writing in 1830, said that it was 
reported that the King of Bavaria, who was a 
great Philhellene, had expressed his intention of 



ARCHAEOLOGY 



223 



making his Glyptothek at Munich disgorge the 
Aiginetan Marbles and restoring them to Greece. 
He, rightly, thought it problematical, and they 
are, of course, still at Munich. Oddly enough, 
the people who abuse us most for having robbed 
the Parthenon are not the Greeks, but the 
French, who have done more of that kind of 
thing than any nation since the Romans. This 
occurred to Chateaubriand (who confessed to a 
certain amount of mild spoliation himself), and he 
attempted to contrast our thefts with those of his 
compatriots ; his- first distinction that they did 
not pull down to take away is plausible, but will 
not bear examination, as the bare places they left 
behind them in Italy were quite as great eyesores, 
and the precious prey did not stand in so great 
need of protection ; his second distinction, that in 
their case the glory of France required it, smells 
too much of vanity for us to have anything to do 
with it. The question of the restoration of the 
Elgin Marbles is one of artistic expediency. Few 
Englishmen would maintain that we had a moral 
right to keep them longer than is necessary in the 
interests of art. The first question to be decided 
is whether they are more useful to the world in 
London or in Athens. If it be in doubt, the 
original ownership of Athens should shift the 
balance of proving the superior advantages of 
London on to us ; if it be admitted that Athens is 
the more suitable place for them, the question 



224 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

resolves itself into selecting the right moment for 
their restoration. This will obviously be when 
they will be in no danger from either a foreign 
enemy, or a revolutionary mob. I am inclined to 
answer the first question in favour of Athens. 
To the second, I should reply that as long as 
Deleyannism exists the marbles must stay in the 
British Museum, which means that, before they 
go, the criminal statistics must show a very 
marked improvement, and the drachma must get 
to within lo per cent, of its nominal value. Pro- 
bably it would be better if Greece had already 
obtained possession of Constantinople. 



[ 225 ] 



CHAPTER XVI. 

RELIGION. 
Organization — Monasteries — Priests — Summary. 

It is a truism to say that the religion of a com-' 
munity has great influence on its material pros- 
perity ; but to estimate at all approximately what 
that influence is, is often extremely difficult, and 
the methods by which an at all definite conclusion 
can be arrived at are extremely complicated. 
What we wish to discover about the Orthodox 
Church is : (i) What has been its influence in the 
past ; (2) What is its influence to-day ; (3) What 
is its -influence likely to be in the future. The 
solution of the first two problems will help us 
materially with the third. In order to arrive at a 
result of any value, we must understand clearly 
the organization of the Orthodox Church. With 
its doctrine we need not immediately deal. 

There are now said to be between twenty-five 
and thirty thousand Roman Catholics in Greece, 
being most numerous in the Kyklades, where 

15 



226 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



they have six monasteries, most of them with 
schools attached, the Jesuits, Capuchins, Fran- 
ciscans, and Dominicans being represented. 
Athens, Kerkyra, and Naxos are archbishoprics, 
and Kephallenia, Syros, Tenos, Thera, and 
Zakynthos bishoprics. They have about sixty 
churches, of which two-thirds are in the Kyklades. 

The Greek Church is quite independent ; it is 
alHed to the Russian Church, but does not acknow- 
ledge the Czar as its head. In 1833 it attempted 
to throw off the authority of the Patriarch of 
Constantinople, which, owing to that dignitary's 
practical subjection to the Sultan, had been ex- 
tremely baneful to it ; by the Synodal Tome of 
1850 the severance was complete except as to 
a few nominal rights of an entirely trivial 
character. 

The government of the Greek Church is now 
in the hands of the Holy Synod, a compact little 
college of five ecclesiastics and a royal commis- 
sioner, the former being at present the Metro- 
politan of Athens, President, the Archbishop of 
Ldrissa, the Metropolitan of Demetrias, the 
Archbishop of Mantineia, and the Bishop of 
Thaumakos. 

There are altogether 40 dioceses, the sees 
which have as their centre the capital of a 
nomarchy being archbishoprics. Accordingly, in 
addition to the members of the Holy Synod, 
there are archbishops of Argos, Arta, Kerkyra, 



RELIGION 227 



-Korinth, Messenia, Syros, and Zakynthos, and 
bishops of Hydra, Karystia, Naupaktos, Naxos, 
Platamon, Thera, and Triphyllia. There are also 
' widowed,' or prelateless, dioceses — namely, the 
archbishoprics of Akarnania, Chalkis, Kephal- 
lenia, Patras, Sparta, Trikkala, and Phthiotis, and 
the bishoprics of Andros, Gardiki, Gortyns, 
Gytheion, Ithaka, Kalavryta, Kythera, Leukas, 
Oitylos, Paxos, Pharsala, Phokis, Stagoi, and 
Thebes, making a total of 2 metropolitans, 9 
archbishops, 7 vacant archbishoprics, and 8 
bishops, with 14 vacant bishoprics. 

The head of the Church receives a stipend of 
6,000 drachmas a year, with an allowance of 3,000 
drachmas more, making a total income of about 
^300 a year (though considerably less at the 
present rate of exchange). Archbishops get 
5,000 drachmas a year (say, £160), and bishops 
4,000 drachmas a year (say, ^130); the four 
members of the Holy Synod receive extra allow- 
ances of 2,400 drachmas a year. 

Monasteries. 

At the time of the Revolution there were 593 
monasteries in Greece, although many of the 
buildings were in decay and tenanted by a single 
monk. The Government of King Otho paid 
early attention to them, and they were gradually 
reduced in number, till in 1857 there were only 
152, of which four were for women. Those 



228 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



which were suppressed were placed under Govern- 
ment control, their revenues being in theory- 
devoted to religious and educational purposes, 
although it is rather doubtful how the moneys 
were applied. No doubt they helped to make 
the early confusion of Greek finance more con- 
founded. It is somewhat remarkable that the 
confiscation met with no public disapproval ; 
possibly the affairs of the seculars did not appeal 
to the popular imagination as an indignity to 
their parish priests would have done ; perhaps 
even there was an unconscious acquiescence in 
Bentham's theories of government, which, by the 
way, had been very persistently dinned into the 
ears of the original leaders by Col. Leicester 
Stanhope. 

In the Eastern Church there are two kinds of 
monasteries : 

(i) Ccenobitic (living in common), in which all 
dress and live in the same way, the government 
being monarchical. The head, or ' Hegoumenos,' 
is, as a rule, the most learned of the monks, and 
not necessarily the oldest ; his term of ofifice is 
limited. Each monk on joining gives up to the 
monastery all his property, which, however, is not 
generally extravagantly great. 

(2) Idiorhythmic (each living in his own way), 
in which there is much greater freedom, the 
government being more nearly republican, or, at 
least, constitutional. There is a governing com- 



RELIGION 229 



mittee of three — the Hegoumenos, and two 
Epitropoi or Symbouloi, elected every five years. 
Each monk owns a particular share of both the 
realty and personalty of the convent, in the former 
case working his allotment himself, although he 
often has a lay helper. Instead of taking their 
meals in the common refectory like the Kaloyers 
(Kalogeroi = good old men), as the Coenobitic 
monks are called, they have ' commons ' of bread 
and wine dealt out to them, which they consume, 
with whatever else they choose to buy, in their 
own cells. 

At present there are 186 convents in Greece — 
31 in Trikkala, 21 in Achaia-Elis, 15 in Argolis- 
Korinth, 14 in Arkadia and Kephallenia, 13 in 
Attika-Boiotia and the Kyklades ; 176 are for 
men and 10 for women, although a good many 
are in reality mixed. 

The largest are : 

/• — For Men. Monks. Nuns. 

The Taxiarchs, in the deme of Aigion 112 9 

Megaspelaion, in the deme of Kerpine 109 
The Gardeners, in the deme of 

Katogetai ... 63 6 

St. Luke, in the deme of Distomia ... 56 
The Death of the Virgin, in the deme 

of Ithome 5° 3 

The Fountain of Life, in the deme of 

Naousa ... ... ... .. 48 



47 


3 


46 


2 


43 


2 


41 


2 


41 




41 





230 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

Monks. Nuns. 
The Death of the Virgin, in the deme 

of Letrinai ... 
St. Laura, in the deme of Kalavryta 
The Death of the Virgin, in the deme 

of Aigion ... 
The Death of the Virgin, in the deme 

of Chaironeia 
St. Dionysios, in the deme of 

Zakynthos ... 
St. Seraphim, in the deme of Petra ... 
The Birth of the Virgin, in the deme 

of Agraiai ... ... ... ... 39 2 

St. Athanasios, in the deme of 

Leukasion ... ... ... ... 39 

Dekes Ireni, in the deme of Skotoussa 39 

//. — For Women. 

The Death of the Virgin, in the deme 

of Tenos ... ... ... ... i iii 

St. Constantine, in the deme of 

Kalamai ... ... ... ... 2 68 

Lazarus, in the deme of Thera ... 3 65 

St. Gerasimos, in the deme of Omalai 19 47 

The average number of monks in each monastery 
is less than 10, and there are barely 2,000 monks 
and nuns in the whole of Greece. 

Mr. Sergeant, in 1879, gave 10,000,000 drachmas 
as the total estimated value of conventual property ; 



RELIGION 231 



but the revenue in 1889 was 2,326,804 drachmas, 
and the expenditure 1,849,437 drachmas, or about 
^30 per head per annum. The richest houses 
are Phaneromene (in Salamis), with 45,000 
drachmas, or about 5,000 drachmas per head per 
annum ; The Angels (near Athens), with 77,000 
drachmas, or about 3,080 drachmas per head per 
annum ; St. Elias (in the Parnassid), with 45,000 
drachmas, or about 1,350 drachmas per head per 
annum ; St. Laura, with 55,000 drachmas, or 
1 , 1 90 drachmas per head per annum ; St. Luke, 
with 55,000 drachmas, or 980 drachmas per head 
perannum; The Taxiarchs, with 105,000 drachmas, 
or 930 drachmas per head per annum ; Voulkano, 
with 45,000 drachmas, or 900 drachmas per head 
per annum ; and Megaspelaion, with 95,000 drach- 
mas, or about 870 drachmas per head per 
annum. 

It should be added that there are about 700 
male and 80 female novices, and about 1,000 
attendants, who are not all included in the above 
tables. The age of admission is thirty for men 
and forty for women. 

In order to appreciate the present position of 
Greek monasteries, we must remember that their 
principal duties in the old days, and still under 
Turkish rule, were of a charitable and hospitable 
kind. They were not learned brotherhoods as in 
the West, although there were not infrequently 
learned men of their number. In fact, throughout 



232 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

the Turkish period these estabHshments were 
required to act as inns, and were bound to accept 
and entertain whatever traveller came ; in return 
for this important public service, the Porte saved 
the monastic revenues from the sticky hands of 
its underlings. It is hardly necessary to add that 
this traditional hospitality is still kept up, and 
that an Englishman especially always finds a 
warm welcome in these reverend khans. 

Priests. 
There are rather over 8,000 priests for an 
orthodox population of 1,635,698, or one to every 
200 souls. They have no ' livings,' and no 
stipends from the State or elsewhere ; and the 
fees they receive for the more private of their 
holy functions are very small. The Athenian 
priests receive from 1,800 to 3,000 drachmas 
(;^6o to ;^ioo) a year, while those in the provinces 
get only from 600 to 1,440 drachmas (^20 to 
;^48) a year, and even this pittance is worth 25 
per cent, less at the present rate of exchange. 
As a consequence, they have to earn a living like 
their parishioners ; they usually resort to agri- 
culture or shopkeeping. Their duties are prin- 
cipally liturgic and ritual ; they do very little 
preaching. However, they are in a sense the 
heads of their villages, not officially, but by the 
unspoken decree of the community ; it is to them 
the stranger applies for information or hospitality. 



RELIGION 233 

They wear their hair and beards long as a pro- 
test against the West — and for the same reason, 
perhaps, they are generally married, though a 
bishop must on being enthroned renounce his 
wife — and their top-hats brimless in revenge- 
inspiring memory of the Turkish ordinance which 
thus exposed their eyes to the glare of the 
Southern sun. The Ottomans had a strange 
hostility to Giaour eyes, as may be seen from 
their treatment of the sacred pictures in Greek 
chapels : they commonly pricked out the eyes of 
the saints. I fancy that numerous as the priests 
are — four times as numerous as in Great Britain, 
and, indeed, in a thicker ratio to the population 
than in any other country in the world— there 
are even more chapels than priests. There are 
even more chapels per square mile than there are 
in Cornwall. The reason for this is that in the 
early history of the Church it was usual wherever 
possible to turn every temple, perhaps even every 
temenos, into a Christian chapel. Cave-temples 
dedicated to the Nymphs or Pan were re-dedicated 
to the Panaghia Speliotissa (Virgin of the Cave) ; 
Theseus became St. George ; Helios or Apollo, 
Elijah ; Athene the Virgin, and so on. And as 
in the days of the old faith it would have been 
monstrous to in any way encroach on a place 
consecrated to Divine use — whence the word 
' temenos ' — so tradition maintained that what 
was once a chapel should be always a chapel. 



234 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



Where population placed itself a chapel was 
built ; when the population ebbed away to more 
fertile land or a higher perch out of the reach of 
pirates, the chapel still remained. They are, 
however, all of them small, with the exception of 
a few of the modern ones at Athens, and are all 
Byzantine in style, the women being treated 
somewhat as in our House of Commons. The 
site of a ruined chapel (Eremoklesia) is usually 
marked by a little covered stand, on which is a 
picture of the tutelary saint ; the pious, as they 
pass, cross themselves, and say a prayer and 
leave an obol or two. 

Summary. 

In order to fully grasp the present state of the 
Greek Church, we must not forget its origin. 
St. Paul was struck by the something between 
religiousness and superstition of the Athenians, 
and by the profusion of altars and shrines 
dedicated to their gods. The missionaries who 
followed him found that, although the Christian 
philosophy was exactly suitable to the Greek 
mind, there was a clinging to old myths and 
ritual which could not be evicted. So they made 
the best they could of the strange circumstances. 
They instilled the ethics and the beliefs of the 
New Testament, and allowed the familiar fairy 
tales to bear a new import, and the old ritual 
to have a fresh sacred charm. Almost every 



RELIGION 23s 



custom which the traveller finds foreign to Roman 
tradition can be traced back to pre - Christian 
times. In this way the priesthood remained dear 
to the people, and thoroughly national. In this 
way was the Church enabled to hold her own, 
and by her influence the Greek race remained 
comparatively pure, and the Greek language was 
saved for better days. That the priests cannot 
themselves have entirely believed the quaint 
fictions indulged in by their parishioners is 
probable, though it is not improbable that with 
their little learning a credulous habit crept upon 
them too unawares. But even when they did 
not believe, it is not unlikely that they felt it 
more comfortable to allow these innocent super- 
stitions to go on while they retained their in- 
fluence over their flocks. In all times and climes 
there has been a tendency to have an esoteric 
alongside of an exoteric religion. In order to 
counteract the dangers that threatened when they 
dared to interfere with the vulgar excrescences 
on the faith — for they did sometimes dare to 
interfere — they stiffened their authority by the 
increase of fast-days. As a counterpoise in the 
reverse direction, they allowed the ritual to replace 
the didactic. 

In most countries except our own it is a 
generally received doctrine that nations likely to 
thrive must not forget their national fetes. With 
us the Queen's birthday is more or less of a 



236 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



holiday, especially as it is generally kept on a 
Saturday ; the Prince of Wales' is the day on 
which the three gas plumes over London shops 
advertise their owners' good fortune ; and 
November 5 is given over to the naughtier 
among small boys In Greece the great days 
are observed by thanksgivings in church in the 
morning, and general hilarity for the rest of the 
day. 

Such is the history of the influence of the 
Greek Church on the people, and their present 
inter- relation is just what would be expected. 
The people have great faith in their pastors, and 
are obedient to them, but their obedience does 
not entail the hardest kind of hardship ; certain 
small payments and rigid fasts and attendance at 
chapel on sundry occasions. There is no strict 
censorship over their lives, no set attempt to 
make the people live in harmony with the teach- 
ings of the text-book of their faith. As in 
Ireland the priests are largely drawn from the 
same classes as their congregations, and with the 
result observable in Ireland- — great sympathy, 
especially on national questions, but utter in- 
capacity to raise them beyond themselves in the 
domain of morality. 

Sir Thomas Wyse, her Majesty's Minister in 
Athens, says (in 1858): 'It is not an over-fed 
Church, nor an over - officious Church, nor a 
fashionable Church, nor a rough-riding, filibuster- 



RELIGION 237 



ing Church ; its tone is less than modest, and we 
hear nothing of oppression or complaint,' which 
is a faithful portrait of the Greek Church in 1893. 
There is only one new factor of any consequence 
in the situation, and that seems rather a sad one, 
although its final effect it is difficult to forecast. 
In the last thirty years it has been increasingly 
common for young men to go to Paris to com- 
plete their education, and in Paris they find 
religion laughed at. Being young they do not 
cast out from their faith what there may be of 
the ridiculous lurking in it, but cast out the faith 
itself neck and crop. Few of them are dis- 
illusioned by the void they afterwards discover, 
but seek to fill it by some liberty-capped fetish, 
or some idol anx Camdlias. When they get 
home again they are at first very revenants for 
the scare they cause, but on s habitue a tout, and 
after two or three decades of this the effect is 
plainly felt in Athens. One would be inclined at 
first to prophesy for Greece the wholesale 
degeneracy which has taken place in France, but 
luckily, though the Church is established by law, 
it has neither state subsidy nor political power. 
Still less does the Church seek temporal 
supremacy, and so provoke license of thought as 
in Italy. So on the whole it is more likely that 
the touch of agnosticism will produce a reaction. 
In this the stranger cannot help Greece much. 
The Greek Church has never been aggressive, 



238 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

and it resents aggression ; the old feud between 
it and Romanism is almost bitterer than the 
hatred of the Mohammedan oppressor. Protest- 
antism — at least, the /in de siecle Protestantism 
which cannot quite decide against the admission 
of Darwin to its calendar — is not understood. 
Attempts to proselytize are looked on as attempts 
to denationalize. The utmost the stranger can 
do is, when mixing with Greeks, whether in 
Greece or abroad, to point out in conversation 
the immense necessity of reform from within. It 
is not a question of deposing some time-honoured 
dogma. It is purely a question of practice. 
There is no dangerous purgatory, no misinter- 
pretable confessional to get rid of. What is 
needed is spirituality, life, especially, perhaps, 
the vitalizing spirit of self-sacrifice. It would be 
easiest to begin at the top. This has not been 
the usual method of Christianity, indeed, from 
the days of the fishermen of Galilee to those of 
' General ' Booth, but the cases are not parallel. 
In Greece you have a splendid machinery for 
regeneration. Inspire the Holy Synod, and 
through them the bishops and hegoumenoi, and 
half the work is done. Let us hope that before 
the sensuous mockery of Paris can get at the 
heart of the Hellenic race the leaders of her 
religious thought will see the peril, will not be 
deceived by false hope and friendly memory as 
to its imminence, and will rouse themselves to 



RELIGION 2 39 



make their Church the power for moral and 
spiritual good that it ought to be. 

The unscholarliness of the priests became 
patent to the great minds of Greece soon after 
the national independence had been achieved ; 
and in 1841 the brothers George and Manthos 
Rhizares founded a seminary, which is named the 
Rhizarion, in their honour. It has a foundation 
of 1,700,000 drachmas, but though as a school it 
has been very useful, it has failed to act as a 
priest-making machine. Only about 120 pro- 
spective or actual priests have availed themselves 
of its advantages. It had in 1889 13 pro- 
fessors and 52 pupils. There are also clerical 
training-schools at Chalkis, Syros, and Tripolis, 
and their pupils are obliged in theory to take 
orders afterwards, but they are not very suc- 
cessful. 



[ 240 ] 



CHAPTER XVII. 

ARMY AND NA VY. 

Army — Distribution — Navy — Defence — Attack. 

Army.- — It is very difficult to arrive at an exact 
estimate of the fighting-strength of the Greeks in 
the War of Liberation. In some cases the figures 
reported were exaggerated either through com- 
fortable optimism or the hope of frightening the 
Turks ; in others, owing to the inaccessibility of 
the mountain rendezvous, detachments were alto- 
gether omitted. There was very little cavalry or 
artillery ; the infantry was very largely irregular, 
though not on that account less suited for the 
particular kind of fighting it had to do. Perhaps 
a hundred thousand men took part in the war. 

King Otho had a bodyguard and a gradually 
increasing army, although it never became 
numerically strong. 

King George soon after his accession set about 
the reorganization of his forces, and the state in 
1877 was : 



ARMY AND NAVY 241 



10 battalions of infantry 


... 8,700 men. 


4 ,, rifles (Evzonoi) 


... 2,000 „ 


I battalion of artillery ... 


900 „ 


I „ engineers 


500 „ 


I „ cavalry 


420 „ 



Total... ... 12,520 „ 

If the gendarmerie is included, the total was 
about 14,000 men. The National Guard, how- 
ever, or army on a war footing, was supposed to 
number 200,000 men, although their organization 
was not very complete. 

In more recent years the regular army has 
varied in number from 26,000 to 29,000 men. 
The period of service is two years, although the 
conscription taking place on October i, and the 
military year ending on June i, it is practically 
twenty months ; after this there is a further period 
of ten years in the reserve. The length of service 
in the National Guard is eight years (with the 
exception of ten years for cavalry), and a further 
period of ten years in the reserve. The National 
Guard can only be called out in case of actual 
war, and its reserve in case of invasion. The 
conscription is universal, for all who are not 
physically unfit, from the age of 21 to 51, the 
minimum height being i'56 metres (61^ inches) 
for infantry, and slightly higher for artillery and 
cavalry. The obligation to serve is personal, 
with no power to buy a substitute. 

Each infantry regiment consists of three bat- 

16 



242 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

talions, but the third is always a skeleton, for 
economy's sake ; for the same reason Evzonoi 
battalions exist only on paper. Each cavalry 
regiment consists of four squadrons, the total 
strength being i,8oo men and 800 horses; most 
of the latter are Hungarian. The artillery em- 
braces three regiments, divided into twenty 
batteries. 

The weapon of the infantry and Evzonoi is the 
1874 French Gras rifle, which carries rather over 
a mile, and can be discharged about twelve times 
a minute. With its bayonet it weighs 476 
kilogrammes, or 10^ lbs. Each soldier is allowed 
175 cartridges, of which he carries 78 on his 
person. The ordnance supplied to the artillery 
include field, mountain, and garrison guns (Krupp 
manufacture), of 7-5, 87, 10-5, 15, and 17 centi- 
metres, and mortars of 15 centimetres ; 272 rounds 
are carried per gun. 

The country is divided into three districts, with 
headquarters at Ldrissa for the nomarchies of 
Ldrissa, Trikkala, and Phthiotis-Phokis ; Meso- 
longhi for Aitolia-Akarnania, Achaia-Elis, Arta, 
Kerkyra, Kephallenia, and Zakynthos ; and 
Athens for the remainder. 

The distribution was,, in 1 890, as follows : 



ARMY AND NA VY 



243 



Place. 


Regiment. 




1 

.3 


1 

•3 


s 
■■5 


."2 


.12 


Si . 

^1 


Athens . . , 


No. I Line 


7 


12 


II 


27 


4 


— 


3 


)) ... 


No. 7 „ 


7 


rr 


14 


24 


3 


— 


4 


„ 


No. 2 Battalion 


















Evzonoi 


3 


4 


5 


10 


1 


— 


2 


,, 


No. 2 Cavalry... 


4 


3 


5 


13 


2 


— 


2 


,, 


No. 3 „ 


4 


3 


6 


14 


2 


— 


2 


,, 


No. I Artillery.. 


7 


5 


8 


13 


2 


— 


4 


,, 


No. 2 „ 


6 


6 


7 


15 


3 


— 


3 


jj 


No. 3 „ ... 


6 


6 


7 


12 


3 


— 


4 


jj • ■ • 


Engineers 


4 


9 


II 


37 


I 


— 


3 


Chalkis ... 


No. 2 Line 


7 


13 


14 


25 


3 


— 


3 


Kalamai . . . 


No. 3 „ 


S 


10 


13 


24 


2 


— 


4 


Nauplion .. 


No. 8 „ 


7 


12 


15 


25 


4 


— 


4 


Larissa . . . 


No. s „ 


6 


[2 


15 


27 


4 


— 


2 


Volo 


No. 4 „ 


6 


12 


15 


23 


3 


— 


4 


Trikkala... 


No. 4 Battalion 


















Evzonoi 


2 


4 


5 


10 


I 


— 


I 


Kalambaka 


No. 7 Battalion 


















Evzonoi 


3 


4 


5 


6 


I 


— 


I 


Tyrnavos . . 


No. 8 Battalion 


















Evzonoi 


3 


4 


S 


5 


— 


— 


I 


31 


No. I Cavalry... 


5 


3 


3 


14 


2 


— 


2 


H)pata ... 


No. 9 Battalion 


















Evzonoi 


2 


3 


4 


8 


I 


— 


I 


Mesolonghi 


No. 9 Line ... 


6 


13 


14 


30 


3 


— 


4 


Kerkyra ... 


No. 10 Line ... 


6 


12 


13 


22 


3 


— 


4 


Arta 


No. 6 Line 


5 


12 


12 


16 


4 


— 


2 


)? • " 


No. 3 Battalion 


















Evzonoi ... 


3 


4 


4 


4 


— 


■ — ■ 


I 


Agrinion . . . 


No. I Battalion 


















Evzonoi 


3 


,■; 


5 


7 


I 


— 


I 


)j 


No. 6 Battalion 


















Evzonoi 


3 


3 


5 


8 


I 


— 


I 


In the chief 
towns of the 
noraarchies 


Gendarmerie ... 
Stores Dept. ... 


7 
5 


7 
12 


45 
II 


49 
24 


— 


— 


— 



244 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



s fc 



K 



Piaire. Regiment. ■^■^ x. 






Nauplion... Arms Dept. ... i 3 3 4 — 

Athens ... Engineers' Dept. 4 5 3 6 — — ■ — 

„ ... Artillery Dept. .3 2 — — — 

In the chieH 

military h Hospital Dept. . i 2 3 3 68 21 10 
centres J 
Athens ... Military Law 

Dept. ... 16 10 — I — 

(Recruiting Dept. 16 16 16 16 — 

Financial Dept. 2 19 17 30 - - 14 

Athens ... Education Dept. 27 15 20 14 8 — 2 
Athens,' 



Kerkyra, 
and Nau- 
plion 



Garrison 



Total ... 211 278 341 577 131 21 90 

There are also a few staff-officers not included In 
this table a dozen generals, and 22 chaplains, 
bringing up the total number of officers to rather 
over 1,700. It will be remarked that one-third of 
the whole are sub-lieutenants, and they are found 
in large numbers in important positions, as in the 
educational and financial departments ; the chief 
reason of this is that they do not become lieu- 
tenants in the speedy quasi-automatic way that 
second-lieutenants do in England, the secret being 
the same as that of the blank battalions — lack ot 
money. 

The proportion of officers to men is unneces- 



ARMY AND NAVY 245 

sarily large. This is due very largely to the 
abundant supply — not to say plethora — of men of 
officerly status who are obliged by the conscrip- 
tion to serve in the army. In F" ranee, by the 
volunteer system of shortened service, young men 
of good family are induced to go into the ranks ; 
but Greece, while too democratic en gros to allow 
of such a distinction, is not democratic enough en 
detail to accept the hardships of a full period in 
the ranks. In addition to this both superior 
education and ardent patriotism tend towards a 
commission, and the very sentiment of democracy 
itself makes for the multiplication of officers, 
though its final outcome would be, as ludicrously 
as logically, regiments in which all were officers, 
and, indeed, all colonels. 

The pay of officers in the army is as follows : 

General of Brigade ... 7,080 drachmas {j[,2iG) a year. 

Colonel 

Lieutenant-Colonel 

Major ... 

[highest 
Captain -i , 
'^ (lowest 

Lieutenant 

Sub-lieutenant... 

At the present rate of exchange they actually 
receive about 25 per cent. less. 

In 1892 the total rank and file of the army was 
28,1 14 ; this year it is reduced to 22,607, of whom 
13,839 are infantry and Evzonoi, 2,277 artillery, 



6,960 


)' 


{£n^) 


5>76o 


)) 


{£^9^) 


5,280 


)) 


(-^176) 


3.720 


3) 


(^124) 


2,640 


)) 


(;£88) 


1,920 


>J 


{£(>A) 


1,680 


)) 


{£sz) 



246 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



1,413 engineers, 1,146 cavalry, 305 army hospital 

corps, and 3,229 gendarmes, with 1,690 horses 

and 303 mules. There are 1,855 officers, or about 

I officer to 1 2 men. 

The expenditure on the army in 1892 was 

16,642,374 drachmas ; in 1893 it is to be 

14,364,230 drachmas. 

Bulgaria has an army of 33,463 men, Rou- 

mania of 18,532, and Servia of 13,000. 

Navy. — The early history of the Greek navy 

is much like that of her army. Her admirals and 
her commodores were the klephts of the sea. The 
phrase ' Greek fire ' was quite as alarming in the 
old days as its analogue 'torpedo' is now. It 
was a guerilla warfare among the hills and valleys 
of the deep, in contradistinction to the pitched 
battle between squadrons on the open plain of 
the sea. There was no gay uniform then either 
for'ard or aft; and when it was all over in 1834, 
and the new Government wished to show its ap- 
preciation of its heroes, old pyrpolete Kanares 
ambitioned nothing higher than lieutenant's rank. 
(Of his descendants now in the service one is a 
rear-admiral and two are commanders.) The first 
attempt at naval organization was made in April, 
1833 ; there was not much of a fleet to organize, 
only the gallant but broken-winded crocks of the 
ten years' struggle — brigs and brigantines and 
schooners anchored in the ports of Hydra, 



ARMY AND NA VY 247 



Spetsai, and Poros. A commission, however, 
under Miaoules and Kanares, visited the different 
harbours, and selected Poros as the naval port. 
Within three years two spacious establishments 
were built, big enough to accommodate 1 50 hands. 
Shortly afterwards, in 1838, they sent out a small 
student mission — Sachines to France, and Sach- 
toures and Koumelas to England — an experiment 
so successful as to be repeated in 1844 and 1846. 
So, too, Tompazes, who was chief constructor of 
the two first ships built at Poros — the Louis and 
the Amalia — had studied for many years in 
England. Two other ships — the Orphetis and 
the Ariadne — were given by the Russian Govern- 
ment. 

In 1859, under Athanasios Miaoules, it was 
decided to introduce steam, and three small 
boats were bought from a Clyde yard — the 
Nauplion, the Plexaura, and the Aphroessa — and 
three larger — the Salaminia, the Paralos, and the 
Pan ope. Their average maximum speed was about 
10 knots. Under King George naval matters at 
first proceeded very quietly ; but in 1876 the 
BoubouLina, an ironclad, and the Psara, a torpedo 
depot ship, were built, and the smaller Delphin 
and Aspis. In 1877 the navy consisted of two 
ironclads and twelve wooden vessels. In 1878 
the King's father lent him some Danish officers, 
whose services in elucidation of the new weapons 



248 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



were very valuable. The torpedo, with its mystery 
and deadliness and demand for science and heroism, 
appealed very strongly to the popular imagination, 
and there was a big boom in sugar-torpedoes — 
a trivial fact that would have been considered in 
old times of dire portent to the enemy. In 1880 
a torpedo- school was established under a Danish 
chief, and six torpedo-boats were brought from 
England at ^14,400 each. Four Thames passenger 
steamers also were bought for torpedo-work, and 
later 20 more torpedo-boats from England. It 
had become obvious to the authorities that the 
little port of Poros was unequal to modern require- 
ments, so in 1878 the Government yards had 
been moved to Salamis. It was finally ready in 
1 88 1, and the little town which arose in con- 
sequence has now a population of 5,000 people. 
Six more torpedo - boats have been purchased 
from Stettin and nine from La Seyne. 

In 1889 to 1 89 1 the first really ambitious stride 
was taken. 

The ships of the Greek navy are at present : 

Armoured. 

Displace- , ,, jj„„.„ Aj-mour: Indicated <L i. ^"S 

ment: ^."S"'- ■ ^/'''" ■ Belt. Battery. Horse- \\ *| 
Tons. ^''- '"■ ■"■ '"■■ Jn. In. power, i^!^ ^ « 

Hydra 4,885 3340 51 10 14 I4an(ii2 6,700 17 1889 

Psara 4,885 3340 51 10 14 i4andi2 6,700 17 1891 

Spetzai 4,885 3340 51 to 14 i4andi2 6,700 17 1890 

Olga 2,060 230 o 59 o 4| 4 i>95o 10 1869 

King ) 



ARMY AND NA VY 



249 



Unarmoured. 



Admiral Mia- 
ou les 
Amphitrite 
Hellas 
Sphakteria 
Mykale 
Aktion 
Ambrakia 
Hydra 
Spetzai 
Acheloos 
Alpheios 
Eurotas 
Peneus 
Aphroessa 
Nauplion 
Plexaura 
Syros 
Paralos 
Salaminia 



Displace- 
ment . 
Tons. 

1,800 

1,380 
1,300 
1,000 
1,000 
469 
469 
440 
440 
420 
420 
420 
420 
380 
380 
380 
380 
380 
380 



Length : 
Ft. In. 

246 O 

256 O 

200 2 

23s o 

210 6 

128 o 
128 o 
124 8 
124 8 
138 o 
138 o 
138 o 
138 o 
124 7 
124 7 
124 7 
124 7 
123 o 
123 o 



Beam, : 
Ft. In. 

36 c 
36 

37 
3° 
32 
23 
23 
29 
29 



24 II 
24 II 
24 II 
24 II 
22 II 
22 II 
22 II 

22 II 

23 II 
23 II 



Indicated 
Horse- 
power. 

2,200 



1,500 
1,700 
1,000 



380 
680 
400 
400 
400 
400 
160 
160 
160 
160 
204 
200 



„, , Date 
Speed: . 

^"o"- Launch. 



15 

II 
14-5 



10 

"■3 

10 
10 
10 

lo'SS 
9 
9 
9 
9 



879 

890 
878 
88s 
880 
890 
890 
881 
881 



858 
856 
856 
881 
858 
858 



The armament (all of French manufacture) of 
the ironclads Hydra, Psara, and Spetzai, consists 
of 3 27-centimetre breech-loaders, and 5 of 15- 
centimetres, with 5 fixed tubes or launching- 
carriages for discharging fish - torpedoes. The 
Olga has 4 breech-loaders of £7 centimetres {5^ 
tons, long Krupp), 2 also of 17 centimetres (3I 
tons, short Krupp), 2 machine-guns, and 4 light 
guns. The King George has 2 breech-loaders of 
21 centimetres (iC' tons, Krupp), 2 machine-guns, 
and 4 light guns. 

Of the unarmoured ships the Admiral Miaoules 



250 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



carries 3 breech-loaders of ij centimetres (long 
Krupp), and i also of 17 centimetres (short 
Krupp). The Hellas carries 12 breech-loaders 
of 15 centimetres The guns carried by the 
others are chiefly 9"6 and 87 Krupp breech- 
loaders, though the Hydra and Spetzai each carry 
one 26-centimetre 26-ton Krupp breech-loader. 

There are 36 small steamers, some fatted for 
spar-torpedoes, and others used for custom-house 
work, and a royal yacht, and a transport — the 
Bouboulina — of r, 170 tons, and 1,800 horse-power. 
There are 34 torpedo-boats, in four classes, 6 being 
of 85 tons displacement, 128 feet length, 15^ feet 
beam, 1,050 horse-power, and 19 knots speed, 
built at Stettin, and 6 others of 48 tons, 100 feet 
length, 600 horse-power, and 19 knots speed, 
built by Yarrow. There is also a torpedo depot 
ship — the Kanares — of 1,100 tons, and 500 horse- 
power, with 2 lo-centimetre Krupp breech-loaders, 
2 Whitehead-torpedo launching-guns, and 2 under- 
water torpedo-tubes ahead ; her speed is 14 knots. 

The number of officers and men was, in 1892, 
3,550, of whom about 140 were officers, a much 
smaller proportion than in the sister service. The 
number of all ranks this year is 3,041 ; but there 
is a naval-reserve of men under thirty-four years, 
which numbers about 5,000. 

The naval expenditure for 1892 was 6,730,564 
drachmas, the principal items being : Pay, 2,040,000 
drachmas ; maintenance, 1,230,000 drachmas ; and 



ARMY AND NA VY 



251 



repairs, 1,378,000 drachmas. But the total esti- 
mated naval expenditure for 1893 i^ 5,034,245 
drachmas only. 

The pay of officers in the navy is as follovirs : 







£ 


s. 


d. 




Admiral of the Fleet 


.. 13,200 drachmas (440 





0) a year 


highest 
C^P'^'" ilowest 


11,160 , 


(372 





°) „ 


6,480 , 


(216 





°) 


) 


. (highest 
Post-captain jj^^^^j 


.. 7,608 


(253 


12 


0) 


» 


.. S>o88 


, (169 


12 


0) 


J 


(highest 
Commander-, 

(lowest 


5.424 
4,104 , 


(180 
, (136 


8 
16 


0) 
0) 




highest 
Lieutenant ], 

(lowest 


3,744 , 


(124 


16 


0) 


) 


2,664 


(88 


16 


0) 


) 


Sub-lieutenant 


1,800 


(60 





0) 


) 



The English equivalent at the present rate of ex- 
change is about 25 per cent. less. 

Bulgaria has ten steamers on the Danube, 
Roumania twelve steamers, and Servia none. 

Defensive. — Greece was never a difficult 
country to defend as far as its land-approaches 
are concerned. Its present boundary - line is 
practically unassailable except in two places. 
The first weak spot is the region of Mount 
Olympos. There are three passes — the first to 
the south-east by Platamona, turning into the 
Vale of Tempe ; the second by Petra, between 
the true Olympos and the Pierian Mountains ; 
the third by the Turkish fortress of Servia, 
between the Pierian Mountains and Mount 
Amarbis, the route of Sarandaporos. There is 
also a very poor bridle-track over the lower part 



252 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

of Olympos, by which the Romans entered 
Greece. None of these routes are really much more 
practicable for a modern army than the almost 
passless mountain- country between Tyrnavos and 
Arta. It is the very happy hunting-ground 
of Klephtic warriors like the Greeks. If they 
got magazine rifles, as they would if war-clouds 
threatened, and quick firing six - pounders and 
Maxims, they ought to have no difficulty in holding 
the Olympian passes against any numbers the 
Turks would ever be likely to bring against them. 
The further west the Turks go to attack the Greeks, 
the more complicated their task becomes. There 
is not only the getting their men and stores over 
many miles of rough roads ; there is the very 
doubtful loyalty of the Albanians and Epirots. In 
AH Pasha's time there was very little love between 
the dwellers round Joanina and the genuine 
Ottomans ; some of the Skipetar have from time 
to time turned Mussulman, but their race sym- 
pathies are much stronger than their religious 
attachment to Turkey. There may no longer be 
Suliots nor Pargiots to give the world a reminder 
of Thermopylean bravery ; but there are many 
fustanella-wearers who on the craggy heights of 
the frontier would show the Turks that, predilec- 
tion apart, they know that the Hunnish wave is 
ebbing to flow no more against Europe. At Arta 
this would especially be the case. The town is 
not well fortified, taking any ordinary Western 



ARMY AND NAVY 253 

criterion ; but allowing for the rising ground and 
the river, and especially the mote than uncertain 
friendship of the neighbouring hillmen, there is 
very little fear of an attack from this quarter. 
Besides, granting that an enemy might in this 
way get to Agrinion and Mesolonghi, he has an 
insurmountable array of mountains before he can 
get Into Phokis and Boiotia. We may conclude, 
then, that having once got the Turks out of 
Hellas, the Greeks need be under no appre- 
hension of their ever returning by land. In war- 
time Greece could easily raise 50,000 men, and 
properly arm 10,000 of them, more than enough 
to secure their frontier against the Turks. 

By sea the case is rather different. The 
Greeks, as we have seen elsewhere, have an 
enormous range of coast-line to defend. This 
they could not do with their navy, nor could they 
do it by submarine mining, against a strong naval 
power. But at present it is not for them a ques- 
tion of Russia, but of Turkey, and their fleet is 
already very nearly equal to the decayed and 
ever-decaying navy of the Porte. Their torpedo- 
boats mancEuvred with the skill with which 
Kanares and Miaoules handled the brulots during 
the War of Independence would soon quench 
the Sultan's thirst for invasion. But supposing 
there were a complicated European war, or 
supposing that it was no longer a question of 
Turkey, but Russia, how then .'' We are assuming 



254 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



that even Russia would think twice before ven- 
turing a worse than Plevna before Olympos, 
and would attempt an invasion from the sea. 
The defence of little Hellas would no doubt be 
difficult ; but I am not sure that it would be im- 
possible. In the first place, she has admirable 
heliograph stations (vide the beginning of the 
' Agamemnon ') ; the top of Parnassos overlooks 
almost the whole of Greece ; the Akrokorinth, 
low enough never to be cloud clothed, has an 
enormous outlook ; a few signallers on Olympos, 
Mount Ocha (in Euboia), Hymettos, the Akro- 
korinth, one of the Argolid Mountains, Kolokera 
(above Monemvasia), some high point in rather 
Southern Maina, Mathia (above Pylos), Samikon, 
the east side of Erymanthos, Mount Zygos (above 
Mesolonghi), and Leukas, and you have a splendid 
signal-ring. In the second place, Greece rather 
resembles the watertight - compartment arrange- 
ment of a modern ironclad. There are a good 
many places where the enemy could land, which 
might safely be abandoned ; they would be 
practically culs-de-sac ; it would be signalled that 
troops had been landed on a certain little plain, 
and the little Peloponnesian railway would soon 
bring up enough men to defend some almost 
impassable mountain - road. Then, again, her 
rugged and rock-guarded coast would itself make 
the landing of an army-corps, or a quarter of an 
army - corps, in many places an impossibility. 



ARMY AND NAVY 255 

There would remain certain larger plains like 
those of Olympia, Messenia, Sparta, Argos, and 
Athens, which would require scientific defence. 
This, of course, I shall not attempt to deal with. 
It is enough to say that modern mining at the 
hands of men defending their homes — of men as 
crafty and as fearless as the successors of the men 
who won their freedom sixty years ago, would 
not be unlikely to find out how to make it exceed- 
ingly hot for an invader. I do not think it would 
be a question of 100-ton guns, or of heavy 
ordnance at all ; Gardners and Maxims, and 
plenty of them, and above all the ingenious use 
of submarine explosives of high power. 

Attack. — Greece is never likely to attack any 
other country, except perhaps Turkey ; and in at 
all the immediate future, even Turkey only in her 
most accessible weak spot, Crete. Even such 
an attempt is improbable, unless the eyes of 
Europe are turned for the time in another 
direction. Were this to happen, it is by no 
means unlikely that, aided by the Greek Cretans, 
the Greeks would capture Crete. Nor in the 
present, and still more in the future, state of the 
Ottoman Navy should it be impossible for the 
Greeks, having taken possession, to hold their 
prize. But Greek aspirations are not limited to 
Crete by any means. They want Crete, for the 
sake of the Cretans ; for themselves, they want 
"H ITdAic, Constantinople. They could obviously 



2S6 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

never get there by sea. The Dardanelles are so 
narrow that no navy but ours — and perhaps not 
even ours — could force its way through. Could 
the Greeks get to Stamboul partly by land ? I do 
not suppose they could. But I cannot admit that 
it is impossible. Naturally, if Turkey was free 
to concentrate all her forces against Greece, it 
would be impossible. But if Turkey were engaged 
with Russia in the North, even with the Bul- 
garians neutral, or busy with Servia, Greece 
might not stand aloof as in the last Russo-Turkish 
War. She might happen to remember the fragile 
nature of the promises of the friendly powers, and 
prefer to try the chances of war on her own ac- 
count. She might possibly land at Dedeagh almost 
unopposed. She would there intrain to Kouleli- 
Bourgas, and from there, if the Turks were 
being hard pressed elsewhere by the Russians, 
would have a straight run in. It would be a 
Wolselian exploit, requiring careful pre-arrange- 
ment and bold fulfilment, but I do not think it is 
quite outside the bounds of possibility. It is true 
that once in Constantinople, her troubles might 
begin, Hannibal-like. But if the war were the 
great general European conflagration, which 
everyone more or less expects in the not very 
remote future, the general result of the great 
struggle might be in her favour, and she might 
thus conceivably be left in possession of the 
much- coveted prize. 



[ 257 ] 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

CONSTITUTION. 

Articles of Constitution analyzed — Parliaments — Administra- 
tions — Monarchic Democracy. 

This is not the place for a detailed description 
and analysis of the Greek Constitution. The 
aim of the preceding chapters has been to provide 
data on which to safely form an opinion as to 
whether in the region of population, agriculture, 
commerce, finance, education, and other parallel 
matters, the country had shown a satisfactory 
development during the reign of his Majesty 
George I. This chapter will of necessity differ 
from them in that it cannot to any serious extent 
avail itself of the solemn evidence of figures. 
And not only are facts generally, when recounted 
in running prose, less easy to grasp and less faith- 
demanding than facts in tabular form, but the 
particular facts incidental to, and descriptive of, 
political life are liable to be weighed by different 
measures. A barrel of gunpowder and a barrel 

17 



258 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

of soft soap affect the balance very unequally. 
We must get as nearly as possible into a state of 
mind and feeling equipoised between that likely 
in the atmosphere of a meeting presided over by 
Tom Mann and that suitable to a Primrose 
League Habitation. We want to conscientiously 
investigate the progress of Hellas politically 
towards the ideal, or, should the facts prove 
retrogression, to be quite sure of their teach- 
ing. For we may assume that the political 
movement of the last thirty years has had im- 
portant effects on the economic and commercial 
state of the country ; looking at politics in what 
seems to us its most elementary feature, public 
order, we know that neithei- in theory can there 
be, nor in experience has there been, either con- 
siderable commercial development or economic 
stability without it. The justification of the 
Powers who obtained autonomy for Greece 
largely depends on the result thus arrived at, 
not to speak of the support which may be given 
to her in the attainment of her wider ambitions. 

The science of politics may be treated either 
historically, as in the wonderful papers of the 
Federalist, on which the United States Constitu- 
tion was largely based, or psychologically, as in 
the writings of Professor Sidgwick. To treat the 
constitutional history of modern Greece in the 
former way would require far more space than 
this chapter affords, an ample volume at the least ; 



CONSTITUTION 259 

the second method would prove too disputatious, 
as many features of Greek character would them- 
selves be matter of controversy. Accordingly, I 
shall assume as a sort of middle ground, with 
which, of course, both schools of theorists may 
disagree, that in political development the usual, 
or perhaps more exactly the average, course is 
from autocratic socialism through constitutional 
individualism to constitutional socialism ; append- 
ing axiomatically that in a state of human per- 
fection the socialistic and individualistic would 
coincide. 

The constitutional history of modern Greece 
may be thus summarized : 

On March 25, 182 1, the flag of liberty was 
uplifted at the monastery of St. Laura ; and on 
the same day the Messenian notables met at 
Kalamai under Peter Mauromichales, and pro- 
claimed the freedom of Greece. This conference 
having been of too local a character, the Pelopon- 
nesians met on the following May 26 at the 
monastery of Kaltetsai, in Lakonia, and appointed 
a Peloponnesian Senate, which afterwards met at 
Stemnitza. There were also meetings on the 
eastern and western mainland. The great Epi- 
dauros Convention first met on December 20. 
The earlier gatherings had dealt rather in detail 
with questions of police, recruiting and taxation, 
but this at once set about the framing of a Con- 
stitution. Its chief provision was that legislative 



26o GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

authority should lie in an elective Senate and a 
Supreme Council of five, also elected, and for one 
year only. It was partly ancient Greek and 
partly French republican. On August i, 1825, 
under stress of circumstances, the Assembly at 
Nauplion placed Greece under the absolute pro- 
tection of Great Britain. On February 3, 1830, 
the Powers decided on the complete indepen- 
dence of Greece, and determined that its Govern- 
ment should be a hereditary monarchy. The 
Assembly now met at Argos, but under Kapo- 
distria there was no Government worthy of the 
name, and there was something like a small civil 
war before King Otho arrived. The Convention 
between the Powers and Bavaria decreed a 
Regency during the minority of the young King, 
but unfortunately not one of the three Regents 
selected by King Louis was a Greek, so Greece 
lived her first ten years under a tyranny, not, it 
is true, very cruel, but very incapable, and not at 
all in harmony with the rather ultra -academic 
ideas of Democratic Government, which had so 
far underlain Hellenic attempts at Constitution- 
making. At the expiration of the Regency the 
King still continued to rule through his Bavarians. 
However, the Greeks were much too sincere in 
their love of independence, and much too con- 
scious of political capacity, to be long content 
with such a state of affairs. On September 15, 
1843, the necessary revolution came; no lives 



CONSTITUTION 261 

were lost. The King dismissed his Bavarians, 
appointed a Greek Ministry, and summoned a 
National Assembly. A committee of twenty-one 
met in the following November, and drew up a 
Constitution, chiefly based on the French Con- 
stitution of 1830, and on that of Belgium. It 
was drawn up in a hurry, and with none of that 
wise care and debate which had .been so remark- 
able in the making of the Constitution of the 
United States. In aggravation of this, as Mr. 
Sergeant observes, ' the interference of the 
Powers in the affairs of Greece can hardly be 
said to have grown less frequent or less imperious 
under the constitutional regime ; and, indeed, the 
exercise of supreme political authority by men 
like Maurokordatos, Kolettes, Trikoupes, and 
Tsavellas, young in the art of government, and 
often rash from a novel sense of power, was cal- 
culated to afford ground for more or less reason- 
able intervention on the part of England, France, 
or Russia. Corresponding with the distinct 
policies of London, Paris, and St. Petersburg, 
there were political parties in the Greek Assembly, 
which went by the names of English, French, 
and Russian, and which were undoubtedly 
encouraged by the action of the three Govern- 
ments. This rivalry for diplomatic supremacy at 
Athens had the effect of checking the growth of 
independent statesmanship, and it swells the 
aggregate of responsibility incurred by Europe 



262 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

towards the kingdom of Greece.' The legislative 
work of King Otho's Assembly calls for little 
comment. The country was disturbed within as 
well as from without ; its creditors had driven it 
a long way in the direction of bankruptcy, and 
the people had not yet had enough political 
experience to enable them to deal successfully 
with such complicated questions as constantly 
embarrassed them. 

On October 22, 1862, there was again a revolu- 
tion. Still, with all their democratic enthusiasm, 
on expelling King Otho, the Greeks asked for 
another King. Indeed, to be strictly accurate, 
they chose one for themselves. They took a 
plebiscite, which selected the Duke of Edinburgh 
by 230,016 votes against 4,865 votes given to 
eight others; while 1,917 were given for 'an 
orthodox king,' 1,763 for 'a king,' and 93 for a 
republic. However, the Duke was barred by 
the understanding entered into by the Powers on 
the creation of the kingdom ; and on June 5 the 
Powers, at the instance of England, recognised 
Prince William George of Schleswig-Holstein- 
Sonderburg-Gllicksburg as the new King. The 
National Assembly had already enrolled a 
National Guard, decreed universal suffrage, and 
appointed a Provisional Government. Their 
efforts were directed to the framing of a new 
Constitution, which was ratified by the King on 
November 21, 1864. Abolishing the old Senate, 



CONSTITUTION 263 



it established a Representative Chamber of 150 
deputies, since increased to 190, and again to 
307, elected by ballot by all males over the age 
of twenty-one, from equal electoral districts (they 
were afterwards elected by nomarchies ; the 
system now is by eparchies). Mr. Sergeant gives 
the number of electors (in 1879) at 311 per 1,000, 
but I do not know what he does with the women 
and minors, who must be about 75 per cent of the 
population. The present number of electors 
is 450,000, or 205 per 1,000. The King has 
considerable power : he is irresponsible ; he 
appoints and dismisses his ministers and all 
officers and officials ; and he can prorogue or 
suspend Parliament. Nor is his power merely 
nominal. In 1866 the Chamber behaved illegally, 
and the King promptly dissolved It; in 1875 
again the King successfully steered his country 
out of a whirlpool of corruption ; and, lastly, 
in 1892, his Majesty, finding M. Deleyannes 
obstinate in his financial dilatoriness, dismissed 
him. 

In order to thoroughly grasp the really 
advanced nature of the last Greek Constitution, 
we shall do well to look at it from a two-fold 
point of view — let us say from the Liberal and 
Conservative standpoints. The former I shall 
assume (although I know that, as far as English 
parties are concerned, these distinctions are not 
admitted in theory, and in practice are by no 



264 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



means always true) to be a standpoint embracing 
especially the increase of the liberty of the subject 
in all directions, and the latter an outlook of 
narrower range but greater distance, commanding 
especially the remoter effects of legislative Acts, 
and so having a tendency to restrain individual 
liberty for the good of, and for the sake of, the 
State as a whole. 

The four-square effect of the proper relation- 
ship of depth to breadth will become very notice- 
able if we arrange some of these quasi-antithetical 
clauses in parellel columns. 



Ordinances Showing 
Liberal Progress. 

Article i. — Every other 
recognised religion is to be 
tolerated. 



Article 3. — All Greeks are 
equal before the law, and con- 
tribute without distinction to 
the public burdens propor- 
tionately to their incomes. 

Article 4. — Personal liberty 
is inviolable. 

Article 10. — Greeks have 
the right to assemble quietly, 
and without arms. 



Ordinances Showing Con- 
servative Progress. 

Article i. — The established 
religion in Greece is that of 
the Eastern Orthodox Church 
of Christ. 

Proselytism, however, is for- 
bidden. 

Article 3. — Only Greek 
citizens are to be admitted 
into any branch of the public 
service. 



Article 10. — The police may 
be present at all public meet- 
ings. Meetings in the open 
air may ,be forbidden, should 
public safety be thereby en- 
dangered. 



CONSTITUTION 



265 



Article II. — Greeks have 
the right to form societies, 
. . . which (z.«.,the laws) can 
never make this right de- 
pendent on previous Govern- 
ment permission. 

Article 12. — Each man's 
dwelling is inviolable (asylon). 

Article 13. — In Greece a 
human being is neither bought 
nor sold ; a purchased slave 
or serf of any race or religion 
is free as soon as he sets foot 
on Greek soil. 

Article 14. — Everyone may 
publish his opinions in speech, 
writing, or print. . . . 

The press is free. The 
censorship, as well as every 
other preventive measure, is 
forbidden. So also the seizure 
of newspapers and other 
printed matter is forbidden 
either before or after publica- 
tion. 



while they observe the laws 
of the State. . . . 



Article 16. — Everyone has 
the right to establish private 
schools. . . . 

Article 17. — No one is to be 
deprived of his property. . . . 



while he observes the laws 
of the State. 



The seizure after publica- 
tion is permitted in case of 
insult to the Christian re- 
ligion, or to the person of the 
King. 

Only Greek citizens are 
allowed to publish news- 
papers. 

Article 16. — Higher instruc- 
tion is provided at the expense 
of the State; and the State 
also contributes to demotic 
education according to the 
needs of the demes. 
conformably with the laws 
of the State. 

except for public necessity. 



266 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



Article 21. — All authorities 
proceed from the State. . . . 



Article 33. — The secret 
articles of a treaty cannot 
annul its public articles. 



Article 62. — A deputy can- 
not be prosecuted, or in any 
way whatsoever examined, 
touching an opinion or vote 
given in the exercise of his 
duty as deputy. 

Article 66. — The Chamber 
consists of deputies chosen 
by the citizens who have the 
suffrage by direct universal 
and secret voting, by ballot. 



properly shown, when and as 
the law may direct, and always 
with previous compensation. 

and are exercised in what- 
soever way the Constitution 
directs. 

Article 24. — No proposal 
concerning an increase of 
estimated expenditure for pay 
or pension, or generally for 
personal emolument, pro- 
ceeds from the Chamber of 
Deputies. 



Article 56. — The Chamber 
of Deputies cannot debate 
and decide any question with- 
out the presence of at least 
half its members plus one. 

Article 67. — Deputies re- 
present the nation, and not 
only the Eparchy by which 
they are elected. 



Article 70. — To be elected 
a deputy it is necessary to be 
a Greek citizen, of the Eparchy 
by which he is elected, or to 
have been domiciled at least 
two years in it, with enjoy- 
ment of municipal and political 
rights, to have completed the 
thirtieth year of his age, and, 
further, to possess the qualifi- 



CONSTITUTION 



267 



but not with those of officers 
in active service. 

Officers may be elected. . . . 



Article 77. — No member of 
the royal family may be ap- 
pointed Minister. 

Article So.- — The Chamber 
has the right to accuse 
Ministers before the proper 
tribunal. 



only with the consent of the 
Chamber. 

Article 91. — Judicial com- 
missions and extraordinary 
tribunals may not be estab- 
lished under any pretext what- 
soever. 

Article 92. — The sittings of 
the courts of law are public. . 



Article 93. — The system of 
trial by jury is maintained. 

Articlei)^. — Political crimes 
are judged by juries. 



cations required by election 
law. 

Article 71. — The duties of 
a deputy are incompatible with 
those of a paid public official 
or demarch. . . . 

but when elected are placed 
on half pay during the entire 
duration of the representative 
period, and remain in this 
position until their recall to 
active service. 



Article 82. — The King can 
pardon a condemned Minister 
— but in the higher ranks. . . . 



except when publicity would 
be injurious to good morals 
or public order. 



Article 96.— A judge is not 



268 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



allowed to accept any other 
salaried employment except 
that of professor in the Uni- 
versity. 

Article 107. — The revision 
of the Constitution, as a whole, 
is not allowed. . . . 
but limited ordinances not 
fundamental to it may be re- 
vised. 

Article no. — The observa- 
tion of the present Constitution 
is dedicated to the patriotism 
of Hellenes. 

Parliaments. — Before commenting on this, it 
may be well to give a table showing the duration 
of Greek Parliaments. 

I. Under King Otho : 



Assembled. 
September 7, 1844 
July 28, 1847 
October 30, 1850 
October 30, 1854 
December 7, 1856 
October 29, 1859 
February 15, 1861 



Dissolved. 
April 14, 1847 
July 22, 1850 
October 27, 1853 
October 29, 1856 
May 24, 1859 
November 16, i860 
September it, 1862 



II. Under King George: 



Assembled. 
May 28, 1865 
April 25, 1868 
June 5, 1869 
March 24, 1872 
February 14, 7873 April 26, 1874 
July 25, 1874 March 28, 1875 



Dissolved. 
December 21, 1867 
December 10, 1868 
December 27, 1871 
July 21, 1872 



CONSTITUTION 



269 





Assembled. 


Dissolved. 


7 • 


... August II, 1875 


July 14, 1879 


8 . 


... October 20, 1879 


March 12, 1881 


9 • 


... October 9, 1881 


February 11, 1885 


10 


... May 9, 1885 


November 5, 1886 


II 


... January 22, 1887 


July 25, 1890 


12 


... October 29, 1890 


February 20, 1892 


13 ■ 


... May 3, 1892 





The pay of a Minister of State, of whom there 
are six, is 9,600 drachmas a year (worth at this 
moment about ^^250), the Prime Minister drawing 
half as much again. 

Administrations. — The statesmen who have 
been Prime Minister more than once are : 



Under 
King Otho. 
A. Maurokordatos, 5. 
D. G. Boulgares, 5. 
G. Koundouriotes, 3. 
K. Kanares, 3. 
Sp. Trikoupes, 2. 
Rudart, 2. 
A. Miaoules, 2. 



Under 
King George. 

Al. Koumoundouros, 10. 

Ch. Trikoupes, 6. 

Ep. Delegeorges, 6. 

B. Rouphos, 4. 

D. N. Boulgare=, 3. 

A. Moraitines, 2. 

Z. I. Balbes, 2. 

Ih. Za'imes, 2. 

Ih. Deleyannes, 2. 



Before King Otho there were 4 administra- 
tions ; under his rule 24(13 before the Constitu- 
tion was granted and 11 after), 10 in the 
interregnum, and 42 under King George. This 
gives 70 administrations in 62 years, or about 
one every \o\ months, or, deducting the two 
kingless periods, 56 administrations in 60 years — 
that is, with an average duration of nearly 13 



2 70 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



months. This compares for stability very well 
with the duration of French Ministries, 28 of 
which have lasted 22 years, or about 9^ months 
each. It should also be stated that there has 
been a distinct tendency to greater Ministerial 
longevity of late years in Greece. 

Under King Otho there were seven Parlia- 
ments in 18 years, which allows 2 years and 7 
months for each Parliamentary period. Under 
King George there have been 13 in 28 years, or 
with a life of 2 years and 2 months each. 

However, we know that Parliament had not 
the same free play under the first King that it 
has had under the second ; and, besides, the 
present Parliament, considering the Prime 
Minister's enormous majority, is likely to con- 
tinue some time, and bring up the Georgian 
average. 

We now come to the lessons to be learnt from 
the foregoing facts. 

Monarchic Democracy. — The most striking- 
inference we are likely to make is the wonderful 
balance of the monarchic and democratic ideas. 
Antiquarians may be inclined to see in this a 
survival of the notions of Government prevailing 
in the different states which went to make up old 
Greece, and although it is probable that there is 
a considerable substratum of truth in this ex- 
planation, it is also adequately explicable on 
modern grounds. The fact is that, although 



CONSTITUTION 271 

monarchy as exemplified by King Otho had not 
been as successful as Greece and her well- 
wishers had hoped, it had not been altogether a 
failure, and the leading spirits of the era of the 
new Constitution were more inclined to attach 
the blame of unrealized ideals to the old Con- 
stitution than to the King. Now, the old Con- 
stitution was chiefly of the French republican 
order, and consequently lop-sided. With a 
mature nation used to self-government, in no 
danger of public disorder, left to themselves by 
the outside world, it might have worked pretty 
well, but under actual conditions it was doomed 
to failure. Accordingly the Greeks not un- 
naturally turned their eyes to the form of Govern- 
ment under which England had shown itself the 
most stable and steadily ruled country in the 
world — perhaps in all history. We had no con- 
stitutional code for them to annex, but the spirit 
of our Constitution, and the most salient features 
of its body, were reproduced, with such differ- 
ences as the Greek law-makers thought advisable 
under their different circumstances. In addition 
to this revulsion against republican ideas, there 
was also some doubt as to whether the Powers, 
being all monarchical, would sanction any change 
in an anti-monarchic direction, and probably the 
selection of the Duke of Edinburgh, and the 
anglicizing of the Constitution, were not uncon- 
nected. 



272 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

There have been no notable changes of the 
Greek Constitution since its first promulgation, 
though there has been a natural expansion, 
especially in the judicial section. This very fact 
is of itself a vindication of Hellenic national 
stability. There is no bevy of pretenders as in 
France, no nihilistic network as in Russia, not 
even a Home Rule party as in England. 

Inextricably, and almost inexplicably, mixed up 
with the individualist and socialist theories of 
government is the convenient inter-relationship 
of the legislative, executive, and judicial bodies. 
Too great power in the first is ultra-individual- 
istic ; in the two last, ultra-socialistic. The clause 
fixing the Constitution as a whole comes into the 
latter category, while there is at least one 
objectionable clause from the opposite point of 
view ; this I have not yet quoted. It states that 
the authoritative interpretation of the laws belongs 
to the legislature {i.e., Boule). But a law passed 
since the granting of the Constitution, and in 
interpretation of it, is liable to much more serious 
abuse. I mean that which places the trial of 
election petitions in the hands of the Chamber. 
This was once the law even in England, and is 
still the law in France, where it was abused after 
the 1889 general election to the prejudice of the 
Boulangists. In 1890 M. Deleyannes carried 
his abuse of it almost to the ridiculous, ejecting 
so many of his opponents from the Chamber that 



CONSTITUTION 273 



the rest stayed away for some time as a pro- 
test. 

In making up our minds as to the suitabiUty of 
the Greek Constitution, we must look at it as 
a foundation on which experience may in time 
build up for them a Constitution exactly suitable 
to their needs. I think both internal, evidence 
and the history of the last thirty years go to show 
that it was, in fact, very fairly adapted to the 
development of the country. It was not only 
a satisfactory basis, in so far as it was neither too 
individualistic nor too socialistic, but it was both 
in principle and in many details suited to the 
specific probabilities of development inherent 
in the characteristics of the nation. Take, for 
example, the two sections dealing with the free- 
dom of religion and the press. In the former 
case liberty is limited, because for the time being 
at least proselytism would not only be very 
offensive to Greek feelings, but would not im- 
probably (did, as a matter of fact, in March last 
year) lead to a breach of the peace. On the 
other hand, in a nation so politically and journal- 
istically keen as the Greeks, absolute freedom of 
the press can do little or no harm. Extravagant 
language is often indulged in, no doubt, but 
extravagance rebuts extravagance, and in time, 
as far as Eastern richness of fancy and Southern 
excitability may permit, extravagance will give 
way to moderation. 

18 



274 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

Taking, again, the two articles which state that 
a deputy must have been domiciled two years in 
the eparchy for which he stands, and that 
deputies represent the nation, and not only the 
eparchies which elect them These are both 
clauses of the restrictive kind, although anti- 
thetical. The first ensures to some extent that 
the second shall cause no harm to the con- 
stituents, while the second certainly attempts 
to provide that the first shall cause no harm to 
the State. As a matter of fact, the first is at this 
moment of the greater importance in Greece, 
although in England the second would be almost 
infinitely the more valuable. 

If we were to examine all the no articles of 
the Constitution in this way, balancing clause 
against clause, and reading them in their true 
local colour, we should come to the conclusion 
that the Constitution of 1864 is in itself valuable 
evidence of the political progress of the Greek 
poeple. It shows them to be neither reactionary 
(of which, however, probably no one would think 
of accusing them, unless it might be some rapine- 
loving Communist orconstitution-hating Anarchist) 
nor revolutionary, as is not uncommonly supposed 
in England. It shows that they aimed at a high 
ideal, and chose a path not unlikely to lead them 
to it, a path which has already led them some 
way towards it. 



[ 275 



CHAPTER XIX. 

POLITICS. 

The fight in Greece last year was a square, or to 
be more picturesquely accurately, a trapezian one. 
There were the two large parties that followed 
M. Trikoupes and M. Deleyannes respectively, 
and the two smaller ones that supported M. 
Ralles and the locum tenens Government. The 
last named expected in theory a majority in the 
new Chamber, which it had not in the old, but 
gave no outward and visible sign of existence in 
the contest that was waged so merrily in the 
provinces, although M. Philaretos, the Minister 
of Justice, did make a tour of Thessaly of more 
or less political significance. The Ralles particle, 
too, counted for very little, having no assessable 
influence outside Attika and Boiotia. There was, 
however, supposed to be some sort of a compact 
between M. Deleyannes and M. Ralles, that if 
the former should be called on to form a Ministry, 
the latter should have a couple of portfolios at his 



2 76 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

disposal, while if M. Ralles should be sent for by 
the King (an altogether unlikely contingency, as, 
if his influence had been serious, he would have 
been sent for in February) the former and his 
partisans were to give him their thorough support 
— a rather one-sided bargain, apparently. M. 
Ralles had one advantage over M. Deleyannes, 
namely, the support of the Palingenesia, the best 
Athenian evening paper ; the best morning paper, 
the Akropolis, being Trikoupist. That which 
would have most astonished an Englishman 
studying a Greek election for the first time on 
the spot would be the 'group system.' In each 
province there are usually two or more groups 
centred round the leading provincial politicians. 
At the outset considerable doubt often prevails as 
to which way the leader, and consequently his 
' combination,' will go. For instance, about three 
weeks before the poll at the last election, 
Pandragoumism suddenly came to the front at 
Megara, which, being interpreted, means that 
M. Dragoumes got his group well in hand with 
almost certain prospects of success. In that 
particular instance, as M. Dragoumes was not 
only an ex- Minister of M. Trikoupes, but also 
a great personal friend, there could be no doubt 
as to which party would have the advantage of 
his combination. This is not, however, in- 
variably or even usually the case, and there is 
no doubt that during the course of the contest 



POLITICS 277 



many of M. Deleyannes' provincial leaders were 
won over to M. Trikoupes' side. The latter's 
admirers asserted that while all those who hated 
the ex-Premier might be reckoned on as certain 
to support M. Trikoupes, the anti-Trikoupists 
were not at all sure to back M. Deleyannes. 
Moreover, M. Trikoupes' adherents rejected 
combinations in toto, and advocated unalloyed 
Trikoupism. 

It is not a very easy thing to sketch the rival 
programmes. In the most approved English 
way, the literature and oratory of the Trikoupes 
party asked the electors to compare the state of 
the country then with what it had been twelve 
months before, when their chief had gone out 
of office, and, from a party point of view, the 
local comparisons were very efficiently looked 
after — that is to say, the domestic facts, such as 
increase in crime, slackness in road-making, and 
inefficiency of educational provision were brought 
well home to the inhabitants of the most out- 
of-the-way hamlets. Quite a formidable array 
of figures was marshalled against poor M. 
Deleyannes, those in relation to crime being 
especially effective. But the political dis-agi- 
tator, if we may call him so, did not simply rely 
on his statistics. He spoke to audiences that 
had had bitter experience of the lawlessness 
into which the objection of M. Deleyannes to 
see his friends in gaol had plunged them. The 



278 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

Akropolis followed the example of our Times in 
the matter of a touring prophet, during the 
course of the contest, but his tour received a 
sad additional piquancy, though a party advan- 
tage, from the telling of the tale of crime and 
poverty in which he found the districts which 
he visited. Greece being very mountainous, and 
its road and railway systems incomplete, the few 
weeks which elapsed between M. Deleyannes' fall 
and the general election could not suffice to kill 
Kordonism, an ism latterly associated less with 
the personality of its hero than with the almost 
criminal laisser faire, which resulted from his 
lack of personality. In one place the tobacco 
laws passed by M. Trikoupes, eighteen months 
before, had not been put in force. In the same 
village a school of 150 children was left with only 
one teacher. The more ardent Trikoupists 
openly accused their opponents of police-court 
intrigue, and hinted pretty plainly that M. 
Deleyannes based his electoral hopes on the 
enormous number of criminals, convicted and 
otherwise. To descend to what appears to us 
impossibly trivial, the Trikoupists complained, 
and possibly with good reason, for the Govern- 
ment had not removed the ex-Premier's officials, 
that the circulation of their newspapers was 
often interfered with. Imagine Mr. Gladstone 
giving private orders to all post-office officials 
friendly to him to stop the delivery of the 



POLITICS 279 



Standard and Morning Post ! M. Trikoupes' 
least popular but perhaps most praiseworthy 
■ promise, was that he would , decrease the 
personnel of the civil service, a promise which 
he is fulfilling, and which should do a good deal 
to make such an abuse of power impossible, and 
such a charge unlikely. 

As finance was the rock on which M. 
Deleyannes finally and fatally struck, his 
opponent naturally made this his rallying-cry — for 
the leaders of thought. The press which repre- 
sented his views accepted almost unreservedly 
the financial programme which had recently ap- 
peared in the Times, approving heartily of the 
writer's demolition of certain French journals 
which had denied the solvency of Greece. Of 
course, the inference must not be hastily drawn 
that M. Trikoupes took his policy from the Times 
— a slander his enemies were not slow to pro- 
pagate ; on the contrary, it only meant that the 
Times writer was either very fortunate in the 
source from which he obtained his materials, or 
very masterly in the use he made of them. The 
objections taken by the Gortynians (the ex- Premier 
was a native of Gortys, of classical renown) to 
M. Trikoupes' finance were inconceivably puerile. 
They not only found fault with the principle of 
conversion, the golden dream of modern budget- 
makers — and an excess of silliness in that 
particular instance, as M. Trikoupes had used his 



28o GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

surplus in railways and other public works — that 
is to say, productively — but even accused him of 
having borro-wjed 444,600,000 drachmas, nearly 
their whole debt ! As may be surmised, the 
converter had nearly all the money of Greece on 
his side, a fact which his opponents did not scruple 
(we have seen the same kind of thing happen 
nearer home) to make capital of. He also had 
the support of the Greeks living outside the 
kingdom, the Greeks of Alexandria, Smyrna, etc.; 
some of whom joined very keenly in his crusade 
against national bankruptcy. 

The ex-Premier did not appear to have a 
programme in our sense of the word. ' From 
their lion's head proceed miscreant menaces ; their 
programme draggles from their cur's tail,' said an 
Opposition paper ; and again, ' they content them- 
selves with provoking the most ignoble feeling in 
the lowest way.' A partisan opinion obviously, 
but M. Deleyannes' own words gave some 
ground for it. ' What value,' he asked, ' has your 
vote ? The crisis which is upon us happens to be 
a significant crisis. It was not only insulting to 
you, but it was insulting to the Chamber, and 
amounts to a fraud on our constitutional rights.' 
He thus alluded, in somewhat treasonous terms, 
to our way of thinking, to the King's dismissal 
of him from ofifice, while he still retained a 
majority in the Chamber. But he showed that 
he could be more disloyal than that on occasion. 
In saying, ' Royalty cast me from power at the 



POLITICS 281 

very time when I was struggling to put to rout 
the poverty of the State,' he imphed that the 
corner was being turned, and that the King was 
determined not to let him have the honour of 
having helped to turn it — as unjustifiable an 
attack on Royalty as ever was made. It was not 
M. Deleyannes' lack of heroic finance, but his 
failure to deal with the simple provision for the 
hour, and culminating in his postponement of the 
budget, which caused his humiliation. 

The result of the ex-Premier's pseudo-Georgic 
was that modern Harmodioi and Aristogeitones, 
sometimes rather pigmy of stature and juvenile in 
calligraphy, went about chalking up on the walls, 
' Long live liberty !' ' Down with tyranny,' and 
the like, though their catechism savoured more 
of petty Parisian anti Royalty than of the old 
Hellenic political experimentalism, which, after 
all, had some raison d'etre, besides giving the 
world an example of folly on a small scale, which 
might have saved much pother since, had man- 
kind been wiser. 

The system of voting in Greece is now by 
eparchies, and every voter may give as many 
votes as there are candidates, but he may not 
give more than one vote to any candidate. The 
result is that the vote of each eparchy is, as a 
rule, almost entirely of one colour. It is, how- 
ever, thoroughly in harmony with old Greek life, 
especially as many of the present eparchies were 
then independent states ; and as, of course, the 



282 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

geographical arrangement which caused the 
ancient territorial divisions still exists, although 
partially disturbed by a rapidly improving rail- 
way system, the eparchy makes an admirable 
electoral unit. In 1890, when it was the 
nomarchy, the provincial unanimity was quite 
as marked ; Arkadia with 1 2 members, and 
Kephallenia with 7 were entirely Deleyannist, 
while the Kyklades, Lakonia, and Achaia-Elis 
were almost as decidedly in his favour. All the 
constituencies poll on the same day, as in France. 
The appended table contains the number of 
successful candidates belonging to each party by 
nomarchies. It must be borne in mind that 
there were three parties — Trikoupist, Deley- 
annist (the Rallists being merged), and Govern- 
ment, as well as Independent candidates ; while 
not only did each of these four run their men in 
groups, but a good many candidates, though of 
known party predilection, ran ungrouped. 

Grouped. Ungrouped. 



Mainland — 








1 

t 


1 

5^ 






1 


Attika-Boiotia 


■ IS 


I 


I 





I 











Phthiotis-Phokis .. 


. 10 


I 





1 














Euboia 


. 8 








I 


I 


I 








Aitolia-Akarnania . . 


■ IS 























Arta 


I 








I 


I 











Larissa 


• 9 


I 








3 


I 








Trikkala 


. 12 




















I 



POLITICS 



283 



Grouped. 



Um GROUPED 



Peloponnesos — 
Argolis-Korinth 
Arkadia 
Achaia-Elis 
Lakonia 
Messenia ... 

Kyklades . . . 

Ionian Islands — 
Kerkyra 
Kephallenia 
Zakinthos ... 



^ 
^ 
S 
^ 



13 



10 

TO 
13 



s 

1^ 









020 
8511 

.13 S o ° 






4 
o 
o 
o 
o 



o 
o 
o 
o 
o 



Si 
"^ 

B 

Ci 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 



^3 

I 
O 

o 

o 
o 



6000IOII 
yooiiooo 
40000000 



In its main division this is equal to 



Mainland 
Peloponnesos ... 
Kyklades 
Ionian Islands... 



Trikoupist. Opponetits. 
76 10 

58 23 

18 o 

19 3 



It will be seen from this that the revulsion of 
feeling in M. Trikoupes' favour was extremely 
widespread ; old Klephtic mountain villages and 
busy little ports vied with Athens in their resolu- 
tion to run no risk of national disgrace. Argos, 
Korinth, Ithaka, Megara, Messene, and Thebes 
were all solid for him, while of the 1 1 members 
for Athens, M. Ralles was the only successful 
anti-Trikoupist. 



284 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



The next table shows that the ungrouped 
system has probably received its death-blow : 



Trikou- Deleyan- 


Govern- 


Indepen 


pist. nisi. 


ment. 


dent. 


Grouped candidates... 221 67 


34 


34 


Successful... ... 154 15 


6 


9 


Ungrouped candidates 96 31 


14 


146 


Successful ... ... 17 2 


I 


3 


The chances of winning were accordingly : 


Trikoupist grouped ... 7 ...ungrouped... 


•18 


Deleyannist ,, ... -2 ... „ 




•06 


Government „ ... -17 ... „ 




■07 


Independent „ ... -26 ... „ 




■02 


Trikoupist generally 


SS 




Deleyannist „ 


■17 




Government „ 


■15 




Independent „ 


■07 





Of course, the chances of all anti-Trikoupists 
were evidendy very small ; but it is important to 
note that of 356 grouped candidates of all parties, 
184 succeeded (-5) ; while of 287 ungrouped 
candidates, only 23 succeeded ('08). After such 
a lesson, one might suppose that the Greeks 
would take a little more kindly to the party 
system of government. 



[ 28s ] 



CHAPTER XX. 

SOCIETY. 

Of Athenian society as at present constituted it is 
quite impossible to give a definition. In the first 
place, you have the Court set, made up principally 
of those who are honoured with more or less of the 
personal friendship of the Royal family. Outside 
this is a larger circle, consisting of all those who 
get invitations to Court functions. These, in 
harmony with the strong democratic side of 
Greek sentiment are very numerous for so small 
a capital. For the annual New Year's Court ball 
considerably over a thousand invitations are 
usually issued, and not only are many shabby 
uniforms seen in the quite royally-proportioned 
ball-room, but patent-leather chaussure is not 
compulsory, and there is no particular prejudice 
even against muddy boots. The Royal hospitality 
has on occasion been extended to the whole 
body of mayors and mayoresses of the kingdom. 
Luckily, although between the accent of the 



286 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



vvorld and the counter- world there are differences, 
there is no fatal k to mark the gulf between the 
two. The best people talk the best Greek, that 
is, the purest from an antiquarian point of view ; 
the halfway people are rapidly Atticizing, most of 
the Greek they read is nearly up to New 
Testament form ; the others are quite content 
with the dialects of their provinces, tainted with 
Turkish for Thessalians, and Italian for Ionian 
Islanders. The chief distinction (allowing for 
certain grammatical changes due to an analytic 
tendency) between the old and new tongues is 
the introduction of phraseology borrowed 
especially from England and France. Person- 
ally, I do not think this a failing. I feel con- 
vinced that the unapproached wealth of expression 
of the Greek of the golden age is largely due to 
the readiness with which their talkers and writers 
borrowed from all sorts of barbarians. At the 
same time, the reason for the continuance of the 
practice is largely due to the fact that, indigenous 
literature being limited, they have to go to other 
literatures for their culture ; when they see good 
phrases, they are not ashamed to help themselves 
and enrich their language. 

To revert to society, it is, as may be imagined, 
distinctly mixed. It consists, however, of four 
principal elements. First, one has the old noble 
families (the actual titles have no legal value or 
recognition, and the King is not allowed to bestow 



SOCIETY 287 

any such honours, except on the members of his 
family) of Austrian, Venetian, Servian, etc., 
origin, the Kapodistrias, Kolokotrones, Mauro- 
kordatos, Mauromichales, Metaxas, and Soutsos ; 
they do not aspire to the privileges of rank in 
Athens, but the numerous old titles in the Ionian 
Islands have still a certain amount of prestige. 
Then come the names of Kanares, Karaiskakes, 
Miaoules, and Botsares, whose lustre earned by 
noble deeds during the War of Independence is 
scarcely dimmed as yet. The third section is 
larger and still growing ; it consists of those who 
have struck oil in one shape or other, and includes 
the names Syngros, Schouzes, Schouloudes, 
Kalligas, Karapanos, Theologos, Pachys, Empe- 
dokles, etc., each of whom is probably worth 
over a quarter of a million sterling, one or two 
even being sterling millionaires. Finally, we have 
the political world par excellence, the hereditary 
legislators (by the divine right of talent), the 
Trikoupes, Koumoundouros, Koundouriotes, Dele- 
georges, etc. Of course, some names appear in 
more than one list, and assist in the cohesion of 
society generally. It will be inferred that society 
is not by any means a close corporation, nor has 
it even any very eclectic coteries, such as we are 
used to. There is constant regrouping within, 
constant accretion from below. There is only one 
jet of honour from the Royal fountain, the Order 
of the Saviour, and that is very highly esteemed. 



288 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



Its ribbon is not in every button-hole, like that of 
the Legion of Honour, nor have I ever heard of 
a case in which its conferment has had to be- 
cancelled. The analysis of the last-published list 
yields the following results, which are of use in a 
study of Greek social, and still more of Greek 
politico-social, life : 





Grand 
Cross. 


manders 
{higher). 


Com- 
manders. 


Knights. 


Tota 


Court 


o 


I 


1 


I 


3 


Ministers ... 


2 


7 


12 





21 


Diplomatic Service 


I 


2 


9 


4 


16 


Civil. Service 


o 


3 


17 


51 


71 


Judges 


I 


1 


10 


38 


SO 


Nomarchs 


o 


2 


6 


II 


19 


Deputies ... 


I 


O 


6 


26 


Zl 


Army 


I 


i6 


56 


96 


169 


Navy 


o 


3 


12 


36 


SI 


Barristers 


o 


o 


5 


14 


19 


Clergy 


o 








10 


10 


Profes.sors 





7 


II 


29 


47 


Medicine... 





I 


3 


IS 


19 


Consular Service .. 


o 





2 


20 


22 


Demarchs 


o 


o 


7 


24 


31 


Commerce 


o 


4 


3 


16 


23 


Miscellaneous 


o 


o 





IS 


IS 



Totals 



47 



160 



406 



619 



The Army and Navy accordingly get 35 per 
cent, of the honours, a much larger share even 
than they get in England (23 per cent.), and, 
indeed, in proportion to population, they are 
knighted twelve times as frequently. The crosses 
bestowed on those not in State employ of one 



SOCIETY 289 

kind or another are very few ; but it is the fashion 
of the times in all countries to give the social 
plums in much greater plenty to those who serve 
their country for pay than to those who serve her 
for love. It is in harmony with the high estimate 
in which the town unit is held that even provincial 
mayors, to the number of thirty-one, can reckon 
the blue and white ribbon within the range of its 
ambition. Perhaps the cynic will wonder where 
to find the much-vaunted democratic genius of 
Greece, but he should not forget that in the great 
Republic across the Atlantic every man aspires to 
be at least a ' Judge ' or a ' Colonel,' and even the 
Radical English tradesman arrogates to himself 
the title of Esquire, while the particle is nearly as 
much worshipped in half-communist France as In 
quite-imperial Germany. Greece has set up in 
her midst as her demigod the great equalizer 
(and liberator and fraternizer too) Education. Not 
only can they not possess a considerable hereditary 
aristocracy, for heredity has practically had but 
a couple of generations In which to do its gentle 
work, surnames, in fact, only dating generally 
from sixty years ago ; but, with the exception of a 
small minority, they all go through the same 
course of instruction. As the tourist rides about 
the interior, he Is surprised perhaps at the 
innocent communism of his muleteer, who, a/^e7^ 
drinking, passes his master the cup ; who, unless 
restrained, will sleep in the same room as his 

19 



2 90 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

lordos (milord), but is somewhat reconciled when 
he discovers that his servant (at a shilling or two 
a day) is a briefless barrister, or a politician out of 
work. Neither in public nor in private is heed 
paid to social standing ; the democratic idea, 
which permeates Greek life from Court to court, 
is perfectly sincere ; exclusiveness there means 
unsociability. A Greek is quite as willing to 
extend his acquaintance downwards as upwards ; 
in fact, to him generally up and down simply 
mean money, and the absence of it. 

Policies play a livelier part in social life than 
in France, although not quite the same part that 
they do in England. This difference is largely 
accounted for by the existence of political pro- 
fessionalism, which has here, as elsewhere, two 
principal causes : the fact that all their members of 
Parliament are paid, and the monstrous opening 
for corruption which exists where the majority of 
places in the Civil Service are retransferred to 
political adherents with every change of Govern- 
ment. The rewarding of political partisans has 
been carried so far even (not under the present 
Premier, of course) as the bestowal of a pension 
for previous services on a convicted forger. The 
play of social influences on elections has altered 
somewhat of late, owing to the change of the 
electoral area from nomarchies to eparchies. The 
kind of influence which controlled the larger area 
has not quite the same effect on the smaller ; there 



SOCIETY 291 

is scope for local wire-pullers which did not exist 
before ; in fact, its effect is somewhat similar to 
that which the lowering of the franchise has 
produced in England. One feature which Greek 
social life shares with most European countries is 
the absence of ladies' political associations. Nor, 
with one brilliant exception, can there be said to 
be any salons. Not that femininity is uninterested 
in such matters. Over their afternoon izat (tea d 
la russe) there comes often much wit, and no little 
wisdom, on the questions of the hour from the 
matrons who are intimate with great personages. 
Seeing the strides female education has made in 
the last decade or two — and most girls at all in 
society now know one or two languages besides 
their own, to the extent even that you may hear 
quite as much French as you hear Greek, and 
nearly as much English, at a Court or Legation 
ball — one may be sure that the fair sex are likely 
to have a good deal to say on matters political. 
It is not unnatural that they should not yet have 
thrown off the last trace of Turkish oppression, 
but the customs that still remain as a bitter 
reminder of the child-tax days, are doomed to 
speedy extinction. The ethical question, par 
excellence, will deal with it, for in this the women 
have the men at a great advantage. The chief 
difficulty is the dot system. A young man gets 
embarrassed financially ; what does he do ? Go 
to the Jews.'' He cannot do that, for he is a 



292 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



Greek, and Jews do not flourish in Greek cities. 
No, he looks about for a Hkely girl — that is to say, 
the girl with the largest dowry, for whose hand he 
would have any chance — and, with a little profes- 
sional help, gets betrothed. His debts are paid, 
and often enough they are unhappy ever after- 
wards. This is not the only serious aspect of the 
question. It is looked on as bad form, or worse, 
for a brother to marry until his sisters are disposed 
of, and for a younger sister to marry before an 
elder. The result is that an over-sanguine eldest 
sister celibifies the whole establishment. Another 
unpleasant incident of the custom is the un- 
welcome which meets the poor girl babe, not only 
the first, because she is not a son and heir, but all 
girl babes, for the simple reason that each will 
have to be provided with money to catch and 
keep a husband on. Shakespeare, the great 
apostle of love-matches, is fortunately becoming 
more and more read, and if English institutions 
are copied rather than French, there is a chance 
of disestablishing the dowry yet. At present I 
am afraid that, although there is a strong socially 
Philanglic set, the sympathy of Athens is more 
with Parisian life than with English. The most 
sombre Saxon admits that Paris is much more 
attractive outwardly, and at first, than London ; 
in London you have to hunt after a pleasure, but 
in Paris it hunts after you. Not unnaturally, then, 
the Greek likes French life and imitates it at 



SOCIETY 293 

Athens. But he will find out the superficiality of 
it some day. Already the average Greek is 
superior to the average Frenchman in several 
matters of morals, just as he is superior — vastly 
superior — to him in looks ; he is not yet more 
learned, but he is more intelligent. It can hardly 
be conceived, then, that Athens will long go 
to Paris for her inspirations. What I imagine is 
likely to happen is, she will copy in turns and in 
fractions the socials of London, New York, 
Berlin, and Paris, assimilate what is best of them — 
or, at least, what she may find most assimilable — 
and evolve a social life of her own, gay and 
pleasing, and not unwise, and thoroughly natural 
to her traditions and surroundings. Let us hope 
that this will include love-marriage, though Greece 
will have a hard struggle before she really 
convinces herself that the holy bonds of love have 
a happier, more abiding grip than the casual 
bondage of lucre. 

The greatest drawback to Greek social enjoy- 
ment is the absence of country houses. This fact, 
which is less Turkish than true Hellenic (although 
Xenophon had a charming place with capital 
hunting at Skillus, near Olympia), has baneful 
effects on agriculture, political organization, and 
society. There are suburban villas at Ambelo- 
kepi and Kephisia (where Aulus Gellius had his, 
and wrote his sometimes stiff and sometimes 
chatty essays), and a leading banker has a house 



294 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

as far afield as Marathon. But although Greece 
teems with lovely sites — not historical, Heaven 
forefend ! — for country mansions, even chateaux 
have not yet made their appearance. The rich 
families often go in the summer to what they 
still call Europe, just as Cornishmen speak of 
going to England ; the comfortably-off go to 
Phaleron and Kephesia. 

To an Englishman the chief social charms are 
the constant reminders of the old Greek, and 
especially Athenian, life, and the intensity of the 
patriotism, not the aggressive patriotism of the 
Champs Elys^es, that detects a personal insult in 
all other national aspirations, and heedless of 1 8 1 5 
and 1870-71, affects superior strength, and tenfold 
superior value to that of half the world, but a 
patriotism of sincere desire and solemn intention, 
not unlike, but superior to our own on account, 
perhaps, of its greater need. Surely there can be 
few nobler causes or firmer cements of democracy 
than genuine patriotism. 



[ 295 ] 



CHAPTER XXI. 

PHILANTHROPY. 

An elaborate system of benefaction is generally 
indicative of a deep-rooted civilization, and is 
rarely found in newly-established states. Nowhere 
is the variety of charitable aim and method so 
nearly infinite as in England, so immense that 
the charities of London alone require a big 
volume to describe them. So even in Greece 
there are too many philanthropic institutions for 
us to attempt to investigate them all. However, 
we may form a fair general estimate of the 
beneficence of the people by glancing at the 
leading facts of the chief pious foundations of 
Athens and the Peiraius : 

I. The ' Hope' Hospital, founded in 1836. It 
has a revenue of about ^5,000 a year. In 1891 
it dealt with 1,453 cases, of whom 97 were 
Athenians, 860 provincial Greeks, 450 Greeks 
from 'unredeemed Greece,' and 46 foreigners. 
It has medical and surgical sides, the former 



296 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



embracing- about 60 per cent, of the cases, of 
which 309 were of the respiratory organs, 229 
were zymotic, and 106 of the digestive organs. 
The most plentiful surgical cases were woundings, 
of which there were 169. 

2. The Ophthalmic Hospital, founded in 1843. 
It attends to about 1,200 cases a year, of whom 
65 per cent, are men, 20 per cent, women, and 
15 per cent, children. It owns property to the 
extent of over ;^i 5,000. 

The blind number 7 per 10,000 of the population. 
The deaf and dumb 5 „ ,, ,, 

The lunatic 5 „ „ ,, 

3. The Zaneion Hospital at the Peiraius, 
founded in 1873. It attends to about 600 patients 
a year. 

4. The Naval Hospital at the Peiraius, founded 
in 1880. In 1890 it treated 258 cases, of whom 
only 7 died. Foreign sailors are boarded and 
physicked for 2^, drachmas a day per head. 

5. The Evangelismos Hospital, founded in 
1 88 1. It owns over a million and a quarter 
drachmas worth of property, and in 1892 ex- 
pended 274,067 drachmas. In 1891 it dealt with 
946 cases, each patient remaining in the hospital 
on the average just six weeks. It is by far the 
most important hospital in Greece. Paying patients 
are admitted at 10 drachmas a day, everything 
included. It boasts of 38 ' benefactors,' and 100 
lesser benefactors, who have given donations of 



PHILANTHROPY 297 

between 10,000 drachmas and 1,000 drachmas at 
a time. 

6. The Lunatic Asylum, founded in 1885, con- 
tains 72 men and 3.9 women. It is arranged on 
the French sectional plan. Of its 206 patients 
between October, 1887, and December, 1890, 74 
were idiots, 46 had paralysis of the brain, and 29 
were melancholiacs. Alcoholism is very rare. Its 
expenditure is about 25,000 drachmas a year, and 
its capital 300,000 drachmas. 

7. The Hadji- Kosta Orphanage, founded in 
1853. Its revenue in 1891 was 111,695 drachmas. 
In 1858 it had a capital of a quarter of a million 
drachmas, and maintained 10 orphans ; it now 
has a capital of two millions, and maintains 230 
orphans. They receive technical instruction, some 
of them learning farming, as well as an elementary 
education. 

8. The Queen Amalia Orphanage, founded in 
1855. Its present capital is about 2^ million 
drachmas, and it maintains 1 50 orphans. 

9. The Enfants Trouv^s, with its big collecting- 
box ; it was founded in 1859. The annual number 
of children exposed is said to fluctuate between 
300 and 360, a total high enough, one would 
think, to expose the impolicy of the system. 

10. The Helen Zanes Orphanage, founded in 
1875, maintains 75 orphans, who also receive 
technical instruction. Its income is about 30,000 
drachmas a year. 



298 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

11. The Girls' Orphanage, recently established 
at the Peiraius. 

12. The Retreat for the Aged at the Peiraius, 
founded in 1874 ; it spends about 7,000 drachmas 
a year, and entertains twenty old men. 

13. The Poor House, founded in 1864, but 
removed to its present commodious quarters in 
1872. One hundred and eighty poor men and 
women are maintained in it. Its capital is 400,000 
drachmas. 

14. The Brotherhood of the Friends of the 
Poor, established at the Peiraius in 1880. It 
provides work and looks after the sick, taking 
special pains with the convalescent. 

15. The Brotherhood of Poor Macedonians, 
founded in 1890. In its first year it relieved over 
300 Macedonians who were found in needy cir- 
cumstances in Athens. 

16. The Brotherhood in Christ, founded in 
1 89 1. Its aim is the moral, mental, and material 
improvement of released prisoners. 

17. The Ladies' Syllogue, founded in 1872. 
Its principal undertaking is the provision of work 
for needy women. About 400 are thus looked 
after each year. Sewing employs about 100, 
embroidery 40, lace-making 25, silk-work, etc., 80. 
In 1890 it received 155,161 drachmas from sales. 
It has also a school. Its capital is nearly half a 
million drachmas. Its silk articles are particularly 
good. 



PHILANTHROPY 299 

18. The Hymenaeal Society is a club for pro- 
viding dowries. A subscription of 5 drachmas a 
month for twenty years assures a dowry of 2,750 
drachmas. The society has a revenue of 36,000 
drachmas a year. 

There are also societies for more or less mutual 
benefit among the different professions and trades, 
the doctors meeting for the good of their patients, 
let us suppose, and the barbers in the interests of 
art. 

The hospitals which have medical schools at- 
tached to them have been treated of on page 185. 

The provinces are also very fairly supplied. 
For instance, Kephallenia has a hospital, with a 
foundling department, a poor-house, an institution 
for poor priests and deacons, and a yearly alms- 
giving ; while Syros has a hospital, a foundling 
hospital, a society for the relief of the poor, a 
Roman Catholic poor-house and hospital com- 
bined, and a French brotherhood, which, amongst 
other things, keeps a school of about fifty boys, 
and teaches them French gratis. 

It will be seen that old and young, poor, sick, 
and imbecile, are all well cared for. Of these last 
there are very few, probably a smaller proportion 
to population than in any other country in Europe. 
There is also extrernely little pauperism, one 
reason for which is that living is very cheap. 
The Greek peasant lives in comfort and even in 
luxury on a few coppers a day. A cloudless sky, 



300 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

a cigarette, and plenty of conversation, and he is 
more than contented. The hospitals, although 
containing plenty of beds, and officered by well- 
read doctors and clever surgeons, are not quite 
satisfactorily worked. A rheumatic patient does 
not at all enjoy the washing-out of his ward in 
the bucket-fashion common to all small Athenian 
manages, and good nurses are rather lacking. 
However, the Queen is quite devoted to hospital- 
work (the Evangelismos is under her special care), 
and is doing a great deal to improve the home- 
side of hospital-life. 



[ 30I ] 



CHAPTER XXII. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

Climate — Wind — Rainfall — Earthquakes — Mountains — 
Mineral Waters — Flags — Travellers — Travelling. 

This is a chapter of odds and ends which bear 
more or less directly on the past and future pro- 
gress of the country. It is obvious, for instance, 
that the climate is an important factor in the 
development of Greek agriculture, that earth- 
quakes provide economic problems which have to 
be reckoned with, and that Philhellene optimists 
are likely to look to an increase of tourists as a 
likely source of revenue. 

Climate. — The mean temperature of the air at, 
and sea near, Athens, calculated from the observa- 
tions of M. Schmidt, the Director of the Athenian 
Observatory, during a period of over twenty years, 
has been : 



January i 


Mean Temperature 
of the Sea. 

147 


Mean Tempi 
of the /. 

8-5 


„ IS ... 
February i ... 


13-9 
139 


8-0 
8-4 


IS 


14-4 


9-6 



302 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 





Mean Temperature 


Mean 


Temperature 




of the Sea. 


of 


the Air. 


March i 


15-2 




II'2 


.. IS 


l6'2 




12-8 


April I 


17-3 




14-4 


» IS 


i8-i 




i6'3 


May I 


19-8 




i8-5 


>. IS 


21'3 




2I-I 


June I 


22'9 




237 


.. IS 


24'6 




25-8 


July I 


25-8 




27-2 


>= IS 


26-6 




28-1 


August I 


26-8 




28-s 


>. IS 


26-5 




28-1 


September i 


25-6 




26'S 


I 


S ••■ 24-4 




24-4 


October i 


23-0 




22'0 


IS 


21-6 




197 


November i 


20'0 




17-2 


I 


5 ••• 18-5 




I4-S 


December i 


I7-S 




11-9 


I, 


5 ... 16-4 




97 



This gives a mean annual temperature of ly^ 
(rather greater than that of Lisbon, and rather 
less than that of Palermo), with a difference 
between the January and July means of 19 '3 
(which is considerably greater than that of either 
Lisbon or Palermo). 

The mean temperature at Kerkyra is : January, 
10-2 ; February, 10-3 ; March, irS ; April, 15-5 
May, 19-5 ; June, 23-4; July, 26-3; August, 25-9 
September, 23; October, 19-8; November, 15-2 
December, 1 1 •6. 

The greatest and least summer maxima registered 
at Athens have been : 



MISCELLANEOUS 



303 





Greatest 


Least 




Maximum. 


Maximum. 


May 


... 38-1 


28-1 


June 


4o'3 


30-8 


July ... 


4o'i 


33-9 


August ... 


41 'o 


33'9 


September 


39-0 


29-4 



The soil-temperature sometimes reaches 74°. 

Snow is a rare phenomenon in Athens ; the 
most notable fall was in January, 1864, when it lay 
for over a week. There is a commonly prevalent 
belief that snow is unknown in the islands, but 
this is only applicable to their low-lying regions ; 
the mountains of Salamis, Aigina, Syros, Andros, 
Tenos, Mykonos, and even Delos, are pretty often 
snow-clad. 

The first snow usually appears on Parnes about December 6. 

,, ,, Hymettos about December 30. 

It also appears regularly on Pentelikon, and occa- 
sionally on Aigaleos. 

The Wind is a very important item in Greek, 
especially in Athenian, life. The following table 
of their average frequency, by MM. Neumann 
and Partsch, is taken from the ' Guide Joanne ': 





N. 


N.E. 


E. 


S.E. 


6-. 


S.W. 


W. N. W. 


January . 


■■ 3-5 


lO'O 


o'S 


1-2 


3-6 


7-2 


2-3 2-4 


February 


2'I 


8-1 


°-s 


I -8 


3-4 


7-5 


3-S 1-8 


March . 


•■ 17 


6-8 


0-6 


0-8 


S'o 


lo'S 


3-1 2-4 


April 


.. 1-6 


6-3 


0-4 


I'2 


2-8 


13-0 


4'o I'o 


May 


1-2 


6-3 


°-s 


°'5 


4-3 


14-4 


2-4 1-3 


June 


.. 0-8 


8-2 


o'3 


07 


2-9 


i3"i 


2'2 2'2 


July . 


.. 0-9 


14-4 


0-3 


o'3 


^•3 


io'4 


1-8 0-6 



304 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 





JV. 


ME. 


K 


S.E. 


6'. 


S.W. 


IV. MW. 


August . . . 


0-8 


14-5 


0-4 


°'5 


1-9 


9-6 


2'2 I'l 


September 


1-8 


ii-B 


o-S 


0-9 


3'3 


9-8 


1-3 0-8 


October... 


2-3 


8-6 


0'2 


0-6 


3'S 


117 


2-5 1-2 


November 


2-0 


9"o 


0-6 


i-o 


5'° 


8-0 


2-9 1-4 


December 


3-5 


8-1 


o-S 


II 


4-2 


7-6 


4-0 1-9 


Total ... 


22'2 


II2"I 


3-S 


io'6 


42-2 


122-8 


32'2 l8'I 



The N.E. wind in the summer is a great boon, 
while the S.W. wind in the same season is quite 
the reverse ; but the air of Attika is so hot that 
it does not deposit any moisture. 

The Rainfall (from Dr. Schmidt's observa- 
tions, over a period of ten years, given in 
Baedeker's ' Greece ') is as follows, the unit being 



the Paris 


line. 


of which 5-^=5 


lines 


English, 


nearly : 


Days. 


Rainfall. 




Days. 


Rainfall 


January ... 


13 


25-2 


August 


3 


37 


February ... 


19 


i6'o 


September 


4 


6-3 


March 


II 


17-3 


October .. 


9 


22'I 


April 


8 


7-9 


November 


13 


39'4 


Mav 


6 


8-8 


December 


13 


25-9 


June 


4 


6-8 




— 




July 


2 


4-2 


Total.. 


• 95 


183-6 



This is about 16 inches a year. It must be 
observed, however, that in the wet season a ninth 
of the yearly rainfall sometimes falls in one day ; 
more than a fifth of it even has been known to. 
Rain falls in Kerkyra on 103 days in the year, 
in Zakynthos less frequently than in Athens, the 
average quantity in Kerkyra being about 30 inches 
annually, though varying much in different years. 



MISCELLANEOUS 



30s 



However, rain rarely continues for more than a 
few hours in any of the Ionian Islands. 

The rainfall is distributed as to seasons, thus : 





Athens. 


Patras. 


Kerkyra. 


Spring .. 


20 per cent. 


18 per cent. 


18 per cent. 


Summer .. 


8 „ 


4 


4 


Autumn .. 


34 


33 


36 


Winter .. 


38 „ 


45 


42 



The annual mean of humidity is 62 per cent, 
(being 67 per cent, at Palermo, and 71 at Lisbon); 
this is largely owing to the almost complete 
absence of dew in the summer. 

Thunderstorms are sometimes of considerable 
severity ; about 20 occur annually in the neigh- 
bourhood of Athens, chiefly between June and 
December. They are almost as frequent in the 
Peloponnesos, but rarer in the Ionian Islands. 

Earthquakes. — Mr. J. Smith was the great 
authority on Greek earthquakes, and we may 
take the period of his investigations as a sample- 
period. His general table is as follows : 

Days on which Shocks were Felt. 

In Greece. In Greece, destructive. In Athens. 

— 7 

— 9 
I 2 
I 8 



1859 


37 


i860 


59 


I86I 


.. 58 


1862 . 


95 


1863 . 


54 


1864 . 


39 


1865 . 


60 


1866 


S3 


1867 . 


204 


1868 . 


.. 87 


1869 . 


49 


1870 . 


•• 130 



15 
16 

15 

II 

13 

34 



20 



3o6 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



Days on 


WHICH 


Shocks 


WERE 


Felt 


(continued). 




In Greece. 


In Greece, 


destructive. 


In Athens. 


1871 


212 








3 




6 


1872 


167 








2 




10 


1873 ... 


114 








2 




15 


1874 ... 


166 








I 




18 


187s ... 


21 








I 




6 



17 years 1,605 22 185 

This gives an average of 94*4 days of earthquake 
per annum for all Greece, and of 1 1 days per 
annum for Athens, and a destructive earthquake 
every nine months — a distinctly alarming record. 
The historic earthquakes of Greece have been : 

B.C. 373. The destruction of Helike and Bura. 
A.D. 23. „ Aigion. 

,, 77. ,, Korinih and other places. 

„ 551. The destruction of Korinth, Patras, Naupaktos, etc. 
(the greatest of all known catastrophes). 

„ 1 7 14. Patras and other towns injured. 

,, 1742. Zacholi greatly injured. 

)5 ^753- " 5' 

„ 1785. Patras 

,, 1%1'j.ab Aigion ,, 

,, 1842. Patras greatly injured ; also various other towns 

of the Peloponnesos. 

,, 1847. Hydra greatly injured. 

,, 1853. a/5 Thebes ,, 

,, 1858.13: Korinth ,, 

„ 1 86 1. Serious earthquake in Achaia. 

„ 1867. ,, „ Kephallenia. 

,, 1870. ,, ,, Amphissa. 

,, 1893. <) ,, ,, Zakynthos. 

a signifies greatest loss of life, and b greatest destruction of 
houses; no single shock has killed more than 100 persons, or 
destroyed any large building. — Chiefly from a note by Dr. 
Schmidt in Sir Thomas Wyse's ' Excursion in the Pelopon- 
nesos,' 



MISCELLANEOUS 307 

M. J. Smith's observations go to show that 
earthquakes are most prevalent in calcareous 
formations, and not in volcanic. He is of opinion 
that many of the lesser seismic effects in Greece 
are not autochthonous, but are sympathetic waves 
from Crete and Asia Minor. 

Mineral Waters.^ — Greece has an abundant 
supply of natural mineral waters : 
Aerated — at Provata (Melos) and Sousaki (near 

Kalamaki). 
Alkaline — at Aidepsos, Andros, Bouliagmene, 

Hermione, Kastriotissa, Kythnos, Loutraki, 

and Methana (2). 
Carbonic acid — at Kounoupitsa and Protothalassa 

(Melos). 
Iron — at Aetos (Akarnania), Kythera, Nea 

Kaymene, and Neon Phaleron. 
Saline — at Aigina, Ali Jelebi, Galaxidi, Kythnos, 

Peleketon, Repsoi, Thera, Thermasia, and 

Vonitsa. 
Saline (bitter) — at Kythera, Levadeia, Melos, 

Mounychia, and Paphos. 
Sulphur — in Aidepsos, Aigina, Gargalianoi, Hy- 

pata, Kaiapha, Karvassara, Kyllene, Methana, 

Nea Kaymene, Thermopylai, and Zakynthos. 

(Those in italics are the most celebrated, and 
have, I believe, dtablissements, though not on a 
very luxurious scale.) 

Mountains. — Switzerland is lucky in that her 
inferdle mountain soil makes her the happy hunt- 



3o8 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



ing-ground of Alpine clubs and alpenstock-wielders 
generally. The mountains .of Greece have yielded, 
so far, no such compensation. The altitudes (in 
metres) of the highest or otherwise most interest- 
ing are ; 



Mainland. 


Peloponnesos. 


Islands. 




Olympos ... 


2,956- 


Taggetos ... 


2,409 


Ainos ... I 


,620. 


Giona 


2,512. 


Kyllene ... 


2,374 


Staurotes 1 


,180. 


Korax 


2,495- 


Chelmos ... 


2,355 


Neritos 


807. 


Parnassos ... 


2,459- 


Erymamhos 


2,224 


Gieri ... 


756. 


Tymphresto.s 


2,319- 


Parnon 


1,937 






Pindus 


2,156. 


Panachaikon 


1,927 






Oite 


2,152. 


Artcuiision 


1,772 






Ossa 


1,95°- 


Moinaleon 


1,559 






Dirphys ... 


1,785- 


Lykaion ... 


1,420 






Helikon ... 


1,749- 


Tsimberou 


1,252 






Othrys 


1,728. 


Helenitza ... 


1,247 






PeJion 


1,630. 


Minthos ... 


1,222 






Kirphios . . . 


1,563- 


Parthenion 


1,217 






Parnes 


1,428. 


Arachneion 


1,199 






Kithairon ... 


1,411. 


Hag-Maria 


1,016 






Ocha 


1,404. 


Zabitsa 


975 






Kallidromos 


1,374- 


Malthia ... 


957 






Geraneia . . . 


1,37°- 


Tiitheion ... 


858 






Pentelikon 


1,110. 


Ithome 


782 






Hymettos ... 


1,027. 










Mesapeion 


1,025. 










Sphingeion 


567- 










The chief Ath 


inian heights are 






Akropol 


s 


156. Lykabetto 


s ... 277. 




Mouseion 


147. Ardettos. 


--- 133- 




Pnyx . 




log. 









The rivers of Greece are not rivers in a 
Tamisian sense, and they are not estuaries, for 



MISCELLANEOUS 309 

the simple reason that there are practically no 
tides in the Mediterranean ; they are rapid 
torrents after the melting of the mountain snows, 
and dry sandy ravines the rest of the year. The 
longest is the Peneios — 90 miles. It is easy to 
understand how they were deified in primitive 
times ; indeed, it is a pity that their cult in our 
days is not more regularly practised. It is only 
by the most careful storage of their waters that 
the summer plains of Greece can ever produce 
their rightful weight of corn. Irrigation has made 
considerable progress in the last ten years, but 
there is a lack of combination which robs the land 
of its due share of the plentiful waters that rush 
by every spring and are wasted in the sea. No 
doubt, too, in the centuries that have gone, they 
have carried with them a valuable quantity of the 
soil of the country. 

Flags. — The badge adopted in 182 1 was a 
phoenix below a Greek cross. The phcenix is 
found on the frontispiece of Greek books printed 
at Venice. The original flag, as raised by Arch- 
bishop Germanos, was white, with a cross en- 
circled with a wreath of laurel ; it was inscribed 
' The Symbol of Freedom.' The Spetsiots carried 
a blue flag, on which was a half-moon with a cross 
above it, round which was coiled a snake ; on the 
left hand a spear and an owl with folded wings. 
Its inscription was ' Freedom or Death.' A black 
banner was used by the Hydriots, and various 



3IO GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

Other flags in the other provinces. The Epidauros 
Assembly decided on blue and white as the colours, 
a white cross on a blue ground having been used 
by the fleet of Stathas twenty years previously. 
The number of stripes decided on was nine, a 
somewhat Homeric choice. 

At present several varieties of the national 
colours are in use. The flag proper has 5 blue 
and 4 white horizontal alternate stripes ; in the 
lower left-hand corner a square bears a Greek 
cross argent on a field azure. The royal standard 
and the ensigns used by the navy and by fortresses 
bear the royal crown on the centre of the cross. 
The flag of the mercantile marine has the nine 
blue and white stripes, but blazonless. 

A fair idea of Greek patriotic sentiment can 
be got from the following invocation, by M. N. 
Saripolos, in this year's 'Companion': 

' The Fatherland, children of Greeks, is not 
your plain or hill, the cross of your village church, 
or the smoke of your hearths rising to the sky, 
nor the tops of your trees, nor the monotonous 
song of your shepherds. The Fatherland is 
Thessaly for the Akarnanian ; Cyprus and Crete 
for the Athenian ; Olympos, Pindos, Athos, for 
the hill-born Arkadian, and the haughty ranges of 
Taygetos. The Fatherland is all Greece by blood 
from Malea and the Ionian Islands to the Phoenician 
Sea. The Fatherland is whatsoever part of the 
fair earth speaks the language — our harmonious 



MISCELLANEOUS 311 

Greek language ; it is whatever causes "the 
throbbings of our breast ; it is the bond of 
religion, the blood-libation which our brethren, 
our parents, from all the corners of the Hellenic 
land, have offered on the altar of our rebuilt 
native land. The Fatherland is the sharing of 
the Hellenic name. Freedom's sweetest and holiest 
link. The Fatherland is our heaven's fair blue, 
the sweet sun that lights us, the tranquil sea that 
flows round us, the fertile lands from Thrace and 
the Euxine to the Libyan Sea. The Fatherland 
is all our fellow-citizens, great and small, rich and 
poor. The Fatherland is the nation which we 
ought to love, worship, serve, and defend with 
all the powers of our minds, with all the might of 
our hands, with all the energy and all the love of 
our souls.' 

Travellers. — Whatever opinion one may 
entertain of Greece economically, however 
Turkish or Russian one may be in one's political 
sympathies, one cannot deny that Greece is the 
least betoured of all the interesting countries in 
the world. I know it is hard to say why people 
go in crowds to some places for their holidays 
and not to others, but the Rhine and the Riviera, 
Norway and Naples, are all notable for fine 
scenery.^ People may not choose the most beauti- 
ful spots to go to, but they certainly avoid the 
most ugly. In theory Greece far excels all other 
countries in her claims on travellers. The coast 



312 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

scenery is not much more beautiful than that near 
Monte Carlo ; some of its plains are rivalled by 
those of Southern France, and its mountains are 
less high (above the sea) than those of Switzer- 
land ; but not one of these, nor any other country, 
has the same wonderful combination. The view 
from the summit of many Greek mountains is 
inconceivably beautiful. From the top of a 
Swiss mountain what can you see ? A few other 
peaks, and perhaps a few score leagues of plain. 
But from Parnassos you have peak and plain, 
island and sea, to far greater distances ; from 
Zakynthos to Asia Minor, and from Mount Athos 
to Crete, the most beautiful panorama known to 
mortals. In no more northern country, moreover, 
is there the same translucent air — an air that 
seems to act magically on distant objects. But 
the innermost secret of Greek scenery, and that 
which, even if as scenery it were only equal to 
other of Nature's pictures, would raise it far 
beyond them in men's estimate, is the subtle 
charm of association. This is not true of the 
archaeologist alone ; he, indeed, is liable to lose 
something of its massive delights in the pursuit 
of more acute specialist raptures, in the skilful 
riding of a favourite hobby, or the bowling over 
of a rival's theory. But the average man and 
woman have an undefined sympathy with the 
names of places they learnt about at school — the 
names that pervade all literature, and are the 



MISCELLANEOUS 313 

f^te names of all the arts. Probably the Iliadic 
feats of the War of Independence, and the 
romantic stories of the feudal days, have con- 
secrated few place-names for the multitude ; but 
from the attack of St. Paul on Athens, back to 
that of the Persians, each little square of country 
was receiving ever and anon a something from 
its tale of weal or woe to touch the interest of all 
mankind for ever. Further back the spell has 
still more power. The spots made sacred by 
dramatic art are sacred still, but chief of all the 
holy glamour that blind Homer poured upon the 
castles of unhallowed days — Cyclopean castles 
and their giant crimes and fairy nobleness — is on 
the world's eyes yet ; even that world that thinks 
itself so wise it does not deign to read such 
nursery - tales. The usual man is Philistine 
enoucfh to know and care but little of the hard 
sharp facts of history, but yields himself up 
pretty readily to feel a little dreamy pleasure 
from the sweet unknown of old associations. 
When he comes to Greece, as come he will some 
day, he will not be museum-tied, or spend too 
crowded days on the Akropolis solving the puzzles 
of the Parthenon ; but, treading leisurely the 
academy, will wonder how old Plato knew so 
much, not knowing in the least what Plato knew ; 
or climb into the chilly home of Zeus, and mix 
up Ovid's and Disraeli's tales ; or on Parnassos 
fill his roving eyes with blunders that would once 



314 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



have cost him dear ; or at Olympia let his sport- 
ing trend have unchecked sway, indifferent about 
his fellowship of soul with Pindar's song. 

Travelling. — A wanderer who has just re- 
turned from this land of dreams is daily amused 
at the way his friends lump the different parts of 
the Levant, Egypt now excepted, as a region not 
to be travelled in, but only explored. The 
general survival of the word ' dragoman ' is 
perhaps partially responsible for it. As a matter 
of fact, one can stay about as comfortably, 
although not quite as luxuriously, in Athens as 
in London or Paris, and the fact that inns are 
scarce elsewhere is a mere ordinary illustration of 
the law of demand and supply. The present 
class of Greek traveller, not being too literally 
thin-skinned, enjoys the novel hospitality of a 
two-roomed manse, and the in-by-sunset mildly 
jovial asceticism of a monastery. He likes his ten 
hours in a saddle, with lunch and siesta by a 
plane protected fountain, better than a day in a 
drawing-room car, with lunch on board. And 
then he is enchanted by the free-and-easy money- 
dealings with the natives ; occasionally, perhaps, 
he may sigh for a /rzir Jixe, but considering how 
cheap everything is, he probably rather likes the 
feeling of uncertainty as to the demands to be 
made upon him. And the elasticity of idea of the 
providers of his wants as to the value of their 
commodities and services is very refreshing. 



MISCELLANEOUS sts 

He will sleep, perhaps, in a totally furnitureless 
room, and be rather surprised to be asked ten 
drachmas for his bed ; but, then, he will but enjoy 
the more the feeling of relief when his tender of 
two drachmas is contentedly accepted. Nor need 
he find the supposed over - shrewdness of the 
Greeks at making a bargain at all unpleasant. 
He need but let himself slip into an Oriental 
mood, and have a cup of coffee with his bargainee, 
and, above all, not appear to be in a hurry. The 
letters of horses and rooms will everywhere try 
to make as much out of him as possible, of 
course, because they are poor, and all Englishmen 
are supposed to be rich ; but they are very 
reasonable, and never refuse a fair offer. If he 
travels in this rough-and-ready fashion, with a 
simple agogiat to look after him, he can get on 
very well on ten shillings a day. If he would be 
bored by a little higgling, or would find it a 
bother to have to talk a little Greek (one can get 
on quite comfortably from the first with the 
remains of one's college Greek plus the words 
and phrases in Baedeker), he had better take 
a dragoman with him for about £2 a day 
if he is alone, or ^i a day for each person 
if there are four. One of the pleasantest ways 
imaginable of spending the ' long ' is to get up 
a party of four and hire a caique — say at the 
Peiraius, or Kerkyra ; at the latter place there are 
generally yachts to be found for hire. The 



3i6 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

caique can be painted and fitted up for a fiver or 
so — lockers and pegs and a floor in the hold — a 
contract is then made with its crew for from 
^lo to ^15 a month for a master, two sailors, 
and a boy, including the hire of the boat, and 
with a cook for ^3 or ^4, and the total expenses 
(inclusive of the above, and of the hire of mules 
to perambulate the islands on) willcome to about 
ten shillings a day a head. 

Intending visitors to Greece who are at all 
archEeologically - minded should get M. S. 
Reinach's little book, ' Conseils aux voyageurs 
arch6ologies en Grece et dans I'Orient Hellenique.' 
Although written by so learned a man, it is not 
alarmingly learned either in matter or style. It 
is a sermon on the text, ' They have eyes, but 
they see not," and is meant even more for the 
ill-prepared traveller, who asks himself, ' Can a 
profane even glean when the harvest has been 
made by masters ?' than for the ambitious traveller, 
whether specialist or encyclopedist. He is 
especially strong on the advantages of photo- 
graphy, and in these Kodak days neither the 
luggage nuisance nor the expense need frighten 
anyone out of taking a little trouble, which will be 
more than compensated by the possession of such 
mementoes in after years. There ought to be a 
ready sale of good negatives for lantern-slides, as 
at present Greek slides, unless of Athenian 
subjects, are very hard to get. What really 



MISCEL LAN ROUS 3 j 7 



ought to be attempted, although it might require 
combination, is an illustrated edition of Pausanias. 
The pictures in Williams, Forbin, Wordsworth, 
etc., are admirable, but quite devoid of system. 
Everything mentioned by Pausanias, and still in 
existence — the scenery he passed through, the 
temples and the marbles — ought to be photo- 
graphed, and the resultant edition of the great 
forerunner of the Baedekers, Murrays, Meyers, 
and Joannes, would be the most magnificent book 
ever published. The other weapons recom- 
mended by M. Reinach for amateurs are a 
squeeze apparatus, a sculptor's chisel, a magnify- 
ing -glass, a field -glass (a binocular telescope, 
which costs about ^10, is a most fascinating 
travelling- companion), a note -book ruled both 
ways, and a graduated walking-stick. 



[ 3i8 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

PANHELLENISM. 

The previous chapters have consisted principally 
of facts showing the state of Greece sotis tous les 
rapports at three dates in her history — at her 
birth, at her confirmation, if we may so speak of 
her admission to the sacred privilege of a 
democratic Constitution, and at the present time, 
when she is seeking to form a lasting union with 
the disinherited Greece, her cousin. It is with this 
alliance that we have now to deal. Nor will it be 
to our purpose to assert or support any imaginary 
right of hers to whatever lands may once have 
been hers by right of colonization or long posses- 
sion. She makes no claim on Marseilles, or even 
on Sicily. Nor again shall we base any argu- 
ments on the long continuity of the Byzantine 
empire. The circumstances are wholly modern, 
and our calculations must deal with wholly modern 
facts. The claim of Greece is simple enough ; it 
is to be the successor of Turkey when Europe 



PAN HELLENISM 



319 



decides to drive the Turks out "of Europe, and in 
Asia Minor as soon as circumstances may permit. 
The figures she brings forward in her favour are 
merely census returns — the number of Greeks in 
the provinces she asks for. Mr. Sergeant sets forth 
the figures in careful detail as they stood in 1879 ; 
but if he was able to support the claims of Greece 
then, the figures are so much more favourable 
now that there ought to be no doubt about the 
matter at all. They apply not to Greeks born in 
Greece, who appear in a separate table, but to 
Greeks born in Turkey : 



I. Thrace : Greeks living ir 


1 the province of— 


Constantinople 


220,000 


Derkoi 


70,000 


Herakleia ... 


190,000 


Adrianople ... 


105,000 


Didymoteichos 


40,000 


Ainos 


10,000 


Bizye 


10,000 


Anchialos 


10,000 


Selybria 


15.00° 


Sozonagathoupolis ... 


iS>ooo 


Gonos 


iS>°oo 


Lemnos 


12,000 


Imbros 


14,000 


Prokonesos ... 


10,000 


Total . . . 


736,000 


II. Makedonia 


630,000 


III. Epeiros 


380,000 


IV. Crete 


250,000 



Total European Turkey 



1,996,000 



320 



GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



V. Asia Minor and its ' islands : 


Greeks living in the 


bishopric of — 






Smyrna 




150,000 


Ephesos 




300,000 


Kyzikos 




7S,ooo 


Nikomedeia.. 




50,000 


Chalkedon ... 




80,000 


Proussa 




25,000 


Philadelphia 




20,000 


Ankyra 




15,000 


Pisidia 




40,000 


Trapezus 




60,000 


Neokaisareia 




40,000 


Ikonion 




50,000 


Araaseia 




80,000 


Chaldeia 




25,000 


Kaisareia 




60,000 


Mitylene 




80,000 


Rethymna ... 




50,000 


Rhodes 




45, 000 


Samos 




52,000 


Chios 




75,000 


Kos 




40,000 


Karpathos ... 




25,000 


Adanoi 




55,000 


Cyprus 




150,000 



Total 



1,692,000 



The foreign towns most resided in by Greeks 
are: In Bulgaria, Varna; in Austria, Trieste; 
in France, Paris ; in Germany, Hamburg ; in 
Great Britain, London ; in Italy, Venice ; in 
Roumania, Braila ; in Roumelia, Philippopolis ; 
in Russia, Odessa ; in Servia, Belgrade ; in the 
Turkish Provinces — in Thrace, Constantinople ; 
in Makedonia, Salonika ; in Epiros, Prevesa ; in 
Asiatic Turkey, Kydonia ; in Egypt, Alexandria. 



PANHELLENISM 321 



Recapitulation. 




Greeks born in Greece and living in Greece . . 


• 2,233,822 


abroad .. 


■ 180,338 



Total ... ... ... ... 2,414,160 

Greeks not born in Greece, living in European 

Turkey ... ... ... ... ... 1,996,000 

Greeks not born in Greece, living in Asia Minor 1,692,000 



Turkey ... 3,688,000 
Total number of Greeks ... 6,102,160 

With this we must compare : 

I. Bulgarians in Bulgaria ... .. 2,326,250 
„ „ Turkey S4o,ooo 



Total number of Bulgarians ... 2,866,250 

2. Total number of Roumanians, about 5,000,000 

3. „ „ Servians, „ 1,650,000 

4. Turks in European Turkey ... ... 700,000 

„ Asiatic Turkey ... ... 6,800,000 

Of true Greeks resident abroad, 19,506 are in 
commerce; 13,503 are students; 8,336 are 
artisans; 5,530 are sailors; and 2,409 engaged 
in agriculture. 

Asiatic Turkey, however, includes, besides Asia 
Minor, Syria, the greater part of Armenia, Kurdi- 
stan, Mesopotamia, and part of Arabia. 

We see, then, that in the two areas to which 
Greece has pretensions she owns by kinship a 
larger proportion of the population than any 
other nationality. In European Turkey, indeed, 
which is her most immediate concern, 43 per cent, 
of the last census isGreek, the total population being 

21 



32 2 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

4,668,000. The members of the Greek Church 
are still more numerous, as it embraces Bulgarians, 
Roumanians, and Servians, or about 56 per cent, 
of the population. But the numerical strength of 
Greece in Turkey does not nearly represent her 
real strength, for their syllogues give them a 
homogeneity which other races, the Turkish 
masters even included, do not possess ; this is 
maintained by their educational superiority, which 
not only gives them great influence, but no doubt 
increases their natural money-making talent, and 
so makes them frequently the owners of the soil. 

Whether or no Greece is some day to have 
Constantinople depends not only on the right of 
Greece to it, or on her fitness to receive it, but at 
least as much on the lack of a satisfactory alterna- 
tive. The other claimants are Turkey, Russia, 
Austria, and Bulgaria. 

I. Turkey — who can hardly be called deata 
possidens. Englishmen have always had pity on 
the poor Turk ; and, indeed, taken absolutely, a 
Turk is not a bad specimen of humanity ; he is 
clean, brave, philosophical, and obliging. He is 
a bit of a bully when he gets the chance, certainly, 
especially if a mere Christian is the occasion of it, 
and he is not quite up to nineteeth-century form 
on certain questions affecting the fair sex ; but 
his failings have been greatly exaggerated, except 
his laziness, which could not be, and the present 
Sultan has shown himself thoroughly alive to 



PANHELLENISM 323 



Western ideas, a man of courtesy, culture, and 
considerable statecraft. If it was simply a ques- 
tion of handing over his European possessions to 
Greece because she would develop their resources 
quicker, free them of brigandage, as she has freed 
her own, and generally bring them within the 
pale of Christian civilization, probably most people 
would say that she had enough to do to look after 
her own affairs, and that Turkey, having shown 
signs of reformation, ought to be allowed another 
chance. But is there anyone in England, is there 
anyone in Turkey, is there anyone in Europe, 
who supposes that the present condition of affairs 
is likely to last long ? Most people are expect- 
ing a war of the most alarming kind before the 
close of the century. A military friend of mine 
of high rank, who knows both Russia and the 
Balkan States very thoroughly, confidently pre- 
dicts May, 1895, as the date of the commence- 
ment of the struggle. His calculations are based, 
I believe, on the wish of official Russia to get 
the affair settled as soon as possible, coupled 
with his knowledge of the time she still needs in 
order to complete her preparations. Admitting, 
however, that the war will not come in 1895, 
nor even this century, experience teaches us 
pretty plainly that sooner or later there will be 
European wars, and I do not think it is an 
unwarrantable assumption to suppose that that 
corner of Europe will be one of the campaign- 



324 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

ing-grounds. The fight will be inier alia for the 
possession of Turkey, and, judging by precedent, 
her further dismemberment is likely to be one of 
its results. Accordingly the question of Turkey 
for the Turks needs no consideration. 

2. Russia. — I believe there is a school of 
foreign political thought in England which does 
not admit Russia's wish, or, at any rate, her in- 
tention, to obtain Constantinople. To them there 
is nothing to be said, though they might find 
reasons for changing their mind if they studied 
Russian opinion as expounded by Russian news- 
papers, even in the short translated extracts which 
appear in the English and French press. Mr. 
Sergeant gives a quotation from the Histoire du 
Consulat et de I' Empire, in which M. Thiers 
says : ' When the Russian Colossus shall have one 
foot on the Dardanelles and the other on the 
Sound, the old world will have been reduced to 
servitude, and freedom will have fled to America. 
A chimera still for short-sighted politicians, these 
sad previsions will one day be painfully justified; 
for Europe, stupidly divided, as the Greek cities 
were in presence of the King of Makedonia, is 
certain some day to suffer the same fate.' What 
would M. Thiers have said if he had known that 
the 'stupid division ' of Europe in the last decade 
of the century should be the work of the ' short- 
sighted politicians ' of his own country ? Mr. 
Sergeant deals at some length, following M. 



PANHELLENISM 325 

Martin, with the falsity of Panslavism. We need 
not concern ourselves here with the Aryanness or 
otherwise of Russian descent ; it is enough for 
us that we consider Russia the worst possible 
candidate for Constantinople. We are convinced 
from the highest possible standpoint that she is 
unqualified for the work. We bring no charge 
against her peasants ; we do not even accuse the 
Czar either of barbaric tyranny at home or 
aggressive selfishness abroad ; we only state 
that, whatever may be the cause, Russia is at 
present unfitted to be entrusted with the ad- 
ministration of more territory. But we do not 
need to take such high ground as this. The 
balance of power is rightly a sacred phrase ; and 
we are convinced that the balance of power would 
meet with worse disturbance if Constantinople 
became Russian than if it became anything else, 
except, perhaps, Chinese. All Europe, except, 
of course, France, is disgusted with Russia's ways 
of extending her influence. The revelations we 
have lately had about the official machinery 
by which she has carried out assassination in 
Turkey and Bulgaria — to omit minor crimes — 
have probably convinced most Englishmen that 
it would be an insult to civilization, an insult to 
liberty, to advocate the claims of a Power that is 
morally still in the nursery, and should be in the 
corner. It is interesting to observe that the 
Panslavs not only reject Panhellenism, but 



326 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

follow the lead of Fallmerayer, who declared that 
the modern Greeks were not Greeks at all — a 
bubble exploded everywhere except in Russia. 

3. Austria. — It is perhaps hardly fair to accuse 
Austria of desiring Constantinople. She wants 
a port on the ^gean, but would be content with 
Salonika. At the same time, if in the general 
milde she were to successfully engage a Russian 
army in the Balkan region, and the Turkish army 
were engaged elsewhere — say on the Greek 
frontier — she might be tempted to try a coup de 
thddtre. All we know of her designs at present 
is that she was strongly opposed in 1878 to the 
Russians seizing Constantinople, and we may 
take for granted that she would be at least as 
strongly opposed to any such thing now. It is 
quite obvious that the idea must be more obnoxious 
to her than to any other Power. Her frontier 
would be threatened on the south as well as on 
the east, and she herself would be Russia's next 
prey. The machinations practised now in Bulgaria 
would then be tried on in Hungary. Even at 
the present moment it requires much tact to keep 
her heterogeneous population in proper going 
order. With Russian conspirators in her midst 
the task would be well-nigh impossible. 

4. Bulgaria. — This plucky little country is a 
formidable candidate. She has been blessed with 
two good princes, and several prudent and in- 
genious statesmen. Her diplomacy during the 



PANHELLENISM 327 

last ten years has earned her the admiration of 
all Europe, and a greater compliment still, the 
detestation of Russia. She has made great pro- 
gress internally ; she pays her debts punctually — 
even to Turkey, to which State, indeed, she be- 
haves in quite a model way, especially when one 
considers that she is a sort of ward of court, and 
might be expected to treat the condemned parent's 
authority with some disdain. She does not, 
however, conduct herself towards her neighbour 
Greece in an altogether friendly way. It may be 
in accordance with her laws that no foreigner shall 
be able to leave the ownership of land in Bulgaria 
to anyone not a Bulgarian citizen ; but it is very 
questionable morality, and very poor policy, not 
to allow the foreign legatee to sell the land to a 
Bulgarian subject. Some of her Prince's most 
useful subjects have been Greeks, and to attempt 
to drive them out of the country is third-rate 
statesmanship. The question of the Greek 
schools, too, does not reflect much credit on 
Bulgarian self-confidence, or on her hospitality. 
It betrays a sub-consciousness that the Greeks 
are a stronger race. The question of the ex- 
archate, I fancy, need not have caused the resent- 
ment in Athens that it did. It was a repartee, 
and a good one, to the intrigue by which General 
Ignatieff had detached the Bulgarian Christians 
from the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and 
annexed them to the national Church of Russia, 



328 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

of which the Czar is the head. Poor Dr. Vulko- 
vitch (who was one of the victims of Russian 
mediaevahsm), of whom I saw a good deal at 
Athens in the spring of 1890, disclaimed any 
ambitions Constantinople-wards for his country ; 
but being Bulgarian agent to the Porte, he could 
hardly be expected to make any naughty admis- 
sions. The issue which he thought most likely 
if Turkey were ever to be dispossessed of her 
European possessions, and I do not think it can 
be a breach of confidence to his memory to state 
it, was that Constantinople should become a free 
city after the old fashion of Hamburg. Its 
present mode of administration in part by consular 
courts, with even separate post-offices under the 
management of the chief Powers, would not seem 
a bad groundwork for such a scheme. This plan 
concerned Constantinople only, and Dr. Vulko- 
vitch said nothing about such Bulgarian aspira- 
tions as might stop short of its walls. In 
comparing the claims of Bulgaria and Greece, 
we ought not to attach too great importance to 
Bulgaria's diplomatic successes. As far as in- 
ternal progress is concerned, there is only one 
department in which Bulgaria has outstripped 
Greece — that is, in governmental stability. But 
this is, without doubt, due to the fact that her 
Government depends entirely for support, not on 
its internal administration, but on its dexterity in 
external affairs, and its foreign policy is very 



PANHELLENISM 329 



much simplified by the persistent unfriendHness of 
Russia. As long as Russia continues to threaten 
her, M. Stambouloff will always have a large 
majority in the Chamber, which, of course, greatly 
facilitates internal administration, and consequently 
the development of the country. Greece has not 
the advantage of a foreign bully to drive her 
parties into coalition, and is accordingly subject 
to a certain amount of administrative change, 
though M. Trikoupes' last administration was a 
long and steady one, which his present one, barring 
financial difficulties, ought also to be. 

I think we may fairly concede that, as far as 
evidence of autonomous capacity goes, Greece 
and Bulgaria are on an equal footing. Accord- 
ingly we must look elsewhere for a test by which 
to determine their relative claims to be the suc- 
cessor of the Porte in Europe. The solution of 
the difficulty which at once presents itself is that 
of nationality. A century ago this would not 
have appealed to the public mind as it now does ; 
but since 1835, when I think the word was first 
used — at any rate, with its present signification — 
there has been a tendency to favour that kind of 
territorial adjustment which most coincides with 
the facts and sentiments of nationality. The most 
accurate, as well as the most temperate, exposition 
of this doctrine that I can recall is that of Pro- 
fessor Sidgwick :* ' We recognise it as desirable 
* 'The Elements of Politics,' 1891, pp. 213, 214. 



330 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

that the members of a state should be united by 
the further bonds vaguely implied in the term 
" nation." I think, however, that the implications 
of this important term are liable to be obscured 
by attempts to give them great definiteness. I 
think it impossible to name any particular bond of 
union among those that chiefly contribute to the 
internal cohesion of a strongly-united society — 
belief in a common origin, possession of a com- 
mon language and literature, pride in common 
historic traditions, community of social customs, 
community of religion— which is essential to our 
conception of a nation-state. In popular talk it 
is often assumed that the members of a nation 
are descended from the same stock ; but some 
of the leading modern nations — so called — are 
notoriously of very mixed race, and it does not 
appear that the knowledge of this mixture has 
any material effect in diminishing the conscious- 
ness of nationality. Again, the memories of a 
common political history, and especially of com- 
mon struggles against foreign foes, have a tendency 
to cause the community of patriotic sentiment 
which the term " nation " implies : still, the present 
imperfect cohesion of the Austro- Hungarian State 
shows that this cause cannot be counted upon to 
produce the required effect. In the case just 
mentioned, differences of language seem to have 
operated importantly against cohesion; and, indeed, 
in most recent movements for the formation of 



PANHELLENISM 331 

States upon a truly " national " basis — whether 
by aggregation or division — community of language 
seems to have been widely taken as a criterion of 
nationality : still, it seems clear, from the cases of 
Switzerland on the one hand and Ireland on the 
other, that community of language and community 
of national sentiment are not necessarily connected. 
Again, at certain stages in the history of civiliza- 
tion religious belief has been a powerful nation- 
making force, and powerful also to disintegrate 
nations ; but these stages seem to be now passed 
in the development of the leading West European 
and American states. I think, therefore, that 
what is really essential to the modern conception 
of a state which is also a nation is merely that 
the persons composing it should have a conscious- 
ness of belonging to one another, of being members 
of one body, over and above what they derive 
from the mere fact of being under one govern- 
ment ; so that, if their government were destroyed 
by war or revolution, they would still hold firmly 
together.' 

Taking the minor and more definite tests, we 
can have no doubt at all about the superiority of 
Hellenic claims over Bulgarian. Not only have 
Greeks a much more earnest belief in a common 
origin, and that of a much more remote period, 
than the Bulgarians, but, taking the inhabitants 
of the disputed territory, the Greek belief in a 
common origin is held by 1,996,000 people, as 



332 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

against 540,000 who may thus beHeve in a com- 
mon Bulgarian origin. The possession of a 
common language and Hterature affects the same 
proportion of Turkish subjects, and there are 
many who talk Greek who are not Greeks ; but if 
we look at the question of literature, the difference 
of qualification approaches the ridiculous. As to 
pride in common historic traditions, it is unneces- 
sary to say anything, as it is one of the commonest 
of the charges brought against the modern Greeks, 
and its absence is sometimes looked on as a merit 
in the Bulgarians. These latter have a community 
of social customs, but not more so than the Greeks. 
Lastly, community of religion is shared by both ; 
but as the religion thus held in common is that of 
the Greek Church, and the Bulgarians are com- 
paratively new converts — although it might, as 
far as this item goes, give Bulgaria a claim to be 
a part of the Greek nation — it can hardly be 
seriously used as an argument for handing over 
a majority of Greek members of the Greek 
Church to her keeping. 

The indefinite definition of Professor Sidgwick 
may, however, be allowed to decide the question. 
No doubt the Bulgarians in Bulgaria have con- 
siderable ' consciousness of belonging to one 
another ' ; but, all the world over, no country is 
to be found in which that consciousness is so 
intensely keen and wide - awake as in Greece. 
Every peasant, every fisherman, glories in being 



PANHELLENISM 333 

a Hellene (the older name ' Greek ' does not appeal 
to them so strongly), and is thoroughly alive to 
the existence of Hellenes at present outside the 
Greek kingdom. ' Enslaved Hellas ' and ' Free 
Hellas ' are terms they all understand — as how- 
should they not, with the memory of their own 
slavery so fresh and painful ? Indeed, if proof 
of this consciousness were needed, it would be 
enough to mention the fact that all Greeks, 
wherever born, are legally subjects of King 
George. They have a right to free education, 
whether at deme school or university, in Greece ; 
and if they come as refugees in a time of local 
trouble, as did the Cretans in 1890, they receive 
a subsidy from the Greek Government. There 
is something of this feeling in Bulgarians, too, 
but nothing like to the same extent ; besides, the 
numbers to whom it could apply are, as we have 
seen, very much smaller. 

Leaving on one side a comparison of Greek 
and Bulgarian claims, we come to a series of facts 
which appear to strongly support Hellenic aspira- 
tions. The first is the intensity of belief — not of 
desire ; that we have dealt with, and its weight is 
not the same — all over Greece, both free and en- 
slaved, that Constantinople will be theirs before 
long. Everyone who has travelled in Greece is 
familiar with the prophecy, an old one, revived 
with great earnestness by the Greek priesthood, 
that Greece would win back Constantinople when 



334 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

she should have a Constantine for King and a 
Sophia for Queen. The marriage of the Crown 
Prince with Princess Sophia, sister of the Emperor 
of Germany, has made it probable that in the 
course of time the necessary conditions will be 
fulfilled. One is disposed to hope that belief in 
the prophecy will result in solemn self-sacrificing 
preparation for so great responsibilities, and that 
the interval (may it be a long one !) which will 
elapse will be one of absolute internal quiet. In 
this way they might themselves contribute mate- 
rially to the fulfilment of the prophecy. 

It is occasionally asserted by people unac- 
quainted with the immense progress made by 
Greece in the last thirty years, that until she can 
govern what she has she is unfit to be entrusted 
with a bigger area. This is so plausible a pro- 
position that it runs the risk of being taken as a 
truism. And yet there is a tolerably obvious 
answer to it. What if the difficulty she may 
experience in governing the area she has is 
almost entirely due to the very restrictedness of 
that area ? This is precisely the case with 
Greece. The frequent changes of Ministry are 
almost entirely due to impatience of the fulfilment 
of the Hellenic idea. Suppose, for a moment, 
that the English colony in Ireland represented 
43 per cent, of the total, and that the Government 
was in the hands of the Irish, numbering only 
15 per cent, of the population, is it not certain 



PANHELLENISM 335 

that English politics would be conducted with 
more than the usual excitement until Ireland was 
united to England ? That is almost on all fours 
with the situation in Greece. In some features 
the Greek case is the harder. She is not yet a 
rich country, and the constant strain on her 
financially is very severe, and is never relaxed : 
the feeling of unrest, the daily expectation of the 
war which shall liberate ' the rest of Greece,' 
unsettles her for the routine work of internal pro- 
gress. Her frontiers, too, have to be constantly 
and carefully watched. She has put down 
brigandage at home, but she is daily in danger 
of falling a prey to the sometimes Albanian and 
sometimes Wallachian brigandage of Turkey ; 
and, to add insult to injury, the telegrams in the 
English papers always supply the brigands with 
Greek names, a fact chiefly due to the news 
having been supplied from Greek sources, the 
only possible ones in remote educationless dis- 
tricts. Far from being truistic, then, the applica- 
tion of the parable of the Talents in an invidious 
sense to Greece would be wholly unjust. 

The ambition of Greece is one of the strongest 
points in her favour. It is not a purely com- 
mercial want, like a wish on the part of the 
United States to annex Hawaii ; it is not born of 
a military instinct like the Tonquin Expedition ; 
it is not a blend of the business-like and philan- 
thropic like our Uganda affair ; it is not even like 



336 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

the ambition of the Greeks of Greece herself in 
182 1. They wanted to be free themselves; now 
they want to make their brothers free. They 
would not be human if other lower motives did 
not enter into their desire. No doubt they have 
their share of the annexing spirit, and still more 
are they alive to the advantages of extended 
markets for their goods (I am afraid philanthropy 
to the Turks does not form one of their incen- 
tives) ; but the one absorbing wish is to free the 
Hellas that is in slavery. 



[ 337 ] 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

CONCLUSION. 
As regarding Greece — As regarding England. 

In politics it is not easy, even when you are quite 
sure of the facts of a particular situation, to satisfy 
yourself that you have found out the course of 
conduct which your facts demand. Usually the 
only safe course is to attempt a variety of related 
expedients simultaneously, in the hope that the 
right ones will be operative, and that their good 
results will not be much neutralized by the 
others. It may accordingly be well to throw out 
a few practical suggestions as to measures which 
might, if taken, lead to the further progress of 
Greece. 

As REGARDING Greece HERSELF. — Of internal 
policy it is not necessary to speak. She has at 
the present moment a Prime Minister who has 
already effected many reforms, and is certain to 
effect morei His clever finance, his successful 
crusade against crime, his reduction of the army 

22 



338 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

and Civil Service, are not likely to be interfered 
with for some time to come. It is on the ques- 
tion of Greek foreign policy that an onlooker sees 
most to puzzle him. The Greek nation as a 
whole seems quite incapable of understanding 
that Russia and Greece cannot both at the same 
time possess Constantinople. There are two 
reasons for this lack of logic : one, their possess- 
ing a common religion ; and the other, the know- 
ledge that Turkey is their most immediate foe, 
and that Russia has always opposed Turkey. But 
Turkey is only their temporary enemy ; Russia 
will be their enemy for centuries. As soon as 
they recognise this fact, Turkey will almost cease 
to be their foe. Turkey would willingly give up 
Crete — at any rate, for a subsidy — if she could be 
sure of not being attacked in the rear by Greece 
when she has next to meet Russia. But this 
is comparatively unimportant. Let Greeks ask 
themselves how Bulgaria has succeeded, and they 
will have to admit that it has been by openly 
throwing in her lot with the Triple Alliance, and 
daring Russia to do her worst. The question 
embraces three main points — sympathy, com- 
merce, and politics. In these days, granted a 
certain amount of national sentiment, it is not 
very difficult (vide Cronstadt demonstration) to 
direct the public sympathy or antipathy to suit 
the exigencies of the State. The average Greek 
is already very well disposed towards England, 



CONCL USION 339 



and not ill-disposed towards Germany, Austria, 
and Italy. If he could only be induced to see 
how ridiculous it is to join sides with his 
country's only serious rivals to the reversion of 
Constantinople, this part of the business might be 
easily settled. There is, of course, France to 
consider. But the French are far too high- 
minded and logical to deny Greece the right of 
acting in the only way by which she could 
possibly attain her ends. No one would counsel 
Greece to be ungrateful to France, to whom she 
owes a great deal, but the accident of the tem- 
porary alliance between France and Russia ought 
not to be allowed to interfere with what is to 
Greece of almost infinite importance. 

An entirely wrong impression prevails in Greece 
on the subject of Cyprus. That island is repre- 
sented, as for instance by M. P. Karolides in 
an article in the 'Companion,' to be 'groaning 
under the English occupation more than under 
the Ottoman yoke.' No Englishman or Cypriot 
needs to be told that this is a gross libel. Its 
un-Hellenic source may easily be guessed. Not 
only does Cyprus now enjoy perfect freedom, and 
even self-government, but its worldly prosperity 
is incomparably greater than it has been for 
centuries. But the worst of the charge is the 
ingratitude of its forgetfulness. It is not so very 
long ago that we handed over the Ionian Islands, 
having tenderly prepared them for autonomy for 



340 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

half a century. Surely after that the quick-witted 
patriots of Greece might guess that, as soon as the 
coming war should have legalized our permanent 
possession of Egypt, we should hand over Cyprus 
to them with pleasure. 

The commercial side is perhaps more com- 
plicated in practical detail, but its principles are 
simple enough. England and the Triple Alliance 
are twice as good customers of the Hellenic 
nation as France and Russia. Although there is 
no powder-and-bullet war going on at the present 
moment, tariff wars we have always with us. 
Making allowance for favoured-nation clauses and 
other hindrances, it ought not to be .difficult for 
Greece to stimulate the trade with the League of 
Peace. If her trade with the dual Powers did 
not suffer, so much the better. Lastly as to an 
offensive and defensive, or purely defensive, 
alliance. I do not suppose it would be necessary 
to actually engage in a formal treaty. England 
and Bulgaria have all the advantages, and no 
doubt morally all the obligations, that written 
stipulations could give. It is simply a question 
of speaking out. Any fear there might be of her 
funds being depreciated in consequence in Paris 
would be quite baseless. If the French Bourse 
attempted such a thing, those of London and 
Berlin would soon, set matters right ; in fact, it is 
likely enough that the simple fact of Greece thus 
appearing under the aegis of the Central Powers 



CONCLUSION 341 



would considerably improve her financial position. 
Her present foreign policy is too opportunist ; 
opportunism may not be dishonest, but it is not 
the best policy. 

As REGARDING ENGLAND. — I suppose it is hardly 
necessary to set about proving the value of a 
Greek alliance to England and the Central 
Powers. We are strong, of course, but so are 
our probable enemies. And the smaller nations, 
Greece, Bulgaria, Roumania, and Servia, close 
to the theatre of the war, will of necessity play 
an important part. Every influence has its value 
in men and money, and we cannot afford to under- 
appreciate any accessory when the forces are so 
evenly matched. And if we desire Greece for an 
ally, we have still more reason to desire her as a 
friend. Ever since Wheler travelled in Greece 
English interest in that country has been on the 
increase. The dilettanti introduced her to the 
notice of the upper ten, and Byron made her 
known and loved by the great poetry-reading 
middle-class. The suggestions I should venture 
to make for the improvement of our relations 
with Greece are as follow : 

I. By the direct action of our Government. 

I. Abolition of the tax on currants and on 
Greek silk. Currants present no difficulty, and 
that with regard to. Greek silk, vis-a-vis, France 
might be managed by classification, as Greek silk 
is quite different from French silk. I am afraid 



342 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 



wines could not be treated in the same way, 
however. 

2. A small subsidy of, say, ^5,000 a year to 
the British school at Athens. The most 
economical Chancellor of the Exchequer ought 
not to feel any alarm about so insignificant a sum, 
and it would do a good deal to increase English 
popularity in Athens. It is hardly necessary to 
add that the French Government grants subsidies 
to its school on a much more generous scale. So 
far we have never given a halfpenny to ours. 

3. Our representatives in Athens might be in- 
structed to show increased friendliness. In future 
consular appointments, too, it might not be a bad 
thing to appoint as consuls men who can speak 
Greek. The rigid rule by which vice-consuls are 
passed over for men in the service might occasion- 
ally be departed from to advantage. 

4. A ship of war ought to be stationed at Peiraius 
as of old. The French are quite aware of the 
advantage of this, and have a first-class cruiser 
always there. 

5. Our fleet might visit Greek ports rather 
more frequently than they have been in the habit 
of doing. I believe we have been improving in 
this matter latterly. Our recent relief to the 
sufferers by the Zakynthos earthquake was very 
much appreciated indeed. Nous atitres anglais 
are so unromantic that we do not understand the 
excited gratitude little international acts of kindr 



CONCL USION 343 



ness are apt to call forth in more Southern souls. 
The presence of our sailors and marines in Phaleron 
Bay is very effective. The size of the men, their 
discipline, and their good temper act powerfully 
on the Greek imagination. They occasionally 
get a little lively, but our naval men take a 
thoroughly British view of compensation for any 
damage that may be done, so no ill-feeling arises 
on this account. A propos, I do not think the 
English papers got hold of an interesting incident 
that happened recently in Volo Bay. A squadron 
of our ships was there for drill, and a sham-fight 
was instituted. A sail-carrying boat was to slip 
her cable at night and hide from the others, who 
were to hunt after her with a search-light. She 
first went and dressed up an appropriate rock to 
represent herself under full sail, and then retired 
close in shore, pillaged an olive wood near of 
scores of boughs, and masqueraded as an olive 
grove. After the time allowed for hiding was 
up, the remainder of the squadron steamed round 
the gulf and eventually found the dummy, which 
they attacked, wrecking two of their torpedo- 
boats before they found out that they had been 
'sold.' The Greeks were naturally indignant at 
the destruction of their olive-trees, but the affair 
was soon arranged to the satisfaction of all 
parties. 

6. A royal marriage. This is delicate ground, 
and I will say no more than that there are nubile 



344 GREECE UNDER KING GEORGE 

one Princess and one Prince of the Greek royal 
house. 

II. Indirectly by the action of individuals. 

1. Sympathy. — All who have had happy hours 
with Greek authors, whether original or trans- 
lated, all who are conscious that but for the 
existence of old Greece they would not have had 
the culture and its resulting happinesses that they 
have, ought to feel that their sympathy with the 
present Greek movement is the least return they 
can make. 

2. Those who have time and means should 
visit Greece. It does not require much of either 
— three weeks and .1^50. With a ' tramp ' each 
way it would take a couple of months, and cost 
about ^35. I have never known anyone go once 
and not long to go again. 

3. Purchase of Greek products. — One need not 
diet one's self on currant-buns, or unduly prolong 
the Christmas - pudding period, or even take to 
retsinato ; but one can keep on asking for Greek 
olive-oil, Greek silk, Greek wine, and Greek figs 
until one gets them, and perhaps even gets them 
into the English market. 

4. Those who are more particularly classically- 
minded, especially if they have a trend towards 
archaeology, ought to subscribe to the British 
school, or at least join the society for the promo- 
tion of Hellenic studies. 

5. All Philhellenes ought to use their influence 



CONCLUSION 345 



more than they do in the direction of making the 
cause of Greece understood and appreciated. We 
need not start a- new fad on the poHtical world, or 
send an examination paper Hke the more or 
less fanatical Fabians to our would-be Parlia- 
mentary representatives, asking among other 
things for an explicit ' yes ' or • no ' as to the 
demanding of Crete, and eventually Constanti- 
nople, for Greece ; but when we consider that the 
public schools and universities supply us with a 
ready-made pro-Greek party in England, and that 
the University Extension Lectures and Free public 
libraries, and their entourage, "provide the machinery 
for reaching the great mass of voters, if we are 
sincere Philhellenes, we ought to do something 
to prove the faith, hope and love that are in us. 

The Greek question must always have only its 
proper proportionate share of the public interest, 
but it is well that, when the dismemberment of 
Turkey comes, the intelligent sympathy of 
England should be found on the side of persevering 
little Greece, and not on that of enormous over- 
bearing Russia. 



INDEX. 



Academy, 209 

Administrations, 269 

Agricultural scliools, 189 

Agriculture, 11 

Albanians, 9 

Ambition of Greece, 335 

Antiquarian wealih, 213 

Antiquities, Greek regard for, xi 

ArcliKological schools, 191 

Archeology, 213 

Architecture, Modern, 215 

Army, 240 

distribution of, 242 
equipment of, 242 
officers, Large number of, 
244 

Arrears of taxation, 1 1 5 

Arsakeion, 187 

Athens Scientific Society, 208 

Attika railway, 86 

Authorities, xviii 

Balance-sheet, 1883-91, 109 
Balkan States, English trade 

with, 69 
Bank-notes, 102, 143 
Bank of Constantinople, 74 
Bankruptcy, 174 
Banks, 72 
Barristers, 164 

Beckmann's, M., deductions, 158 
pamphlet on Greek 

finance extensively 

quoted, 103 sg. 
Births and deaths, 7 
Blind, 296 
Books read, 199 
Brigandage, i6g 
Brotherhoods, 298 



Budget of 1892, 127 

1893, 128 
Business, 72 
Butter, 19 
Byron Society, 207 

Carpets, 53 

Chairetes, M., quoted, 24 

Cheese, 19 

Chronological sketch, xxi 

Church, Influence of, on public 
order, 170 

Civil service, 77 

Clergy schools, 190 

Climate, 301 

Coal, 49 

Coast-line, 95 

Coinage, loi 

Commerce, 59 

Commodities exported, 39 
imported, 40 

Communication, Internal, 80 

Constantinople, Candidates for, 
322 

Constitution, 257 

Constitutional history, 259 

Constitution, Articles ot, show- 
ing Conservative progress, 264 

Constitution, Articles of, show- 
ing Liberal progress, 264 

Constitution, Suitability of, 273 

Conversions, 136 

Corn, 14 

Insufficient production of, 

15 
Correspondence per head, 98 
Cotton, 29 

Countries exporting to Greece, 
67 



INDEX 



347 



Countries importing from 

Greece, 66 
Countries to and from which 

ships sailed, 62 
Country-houses, Absence of, 293 
Credit, Greek, 154 
Crime, 165 
Cultivated land, 12 
Culture, 199, 215 
Currant-growing, 25 
Currants, 23 

English importation of, 23 
French importation of, 23 
Currency, Forced, 143 
Cyprus, Greek ideas concerning, 

339 

Ddiry-farming, 18 

Danube, Greek ships on, 63 

Deaf and dumb, 296 

Decisions of courts of law, 163 

Deficits, 138 

Deleyannea, M., v. the King, 280 

Denies, 7 

Deme schools, 175 

Democratic feeling, xiii 

Diakophti-KalavrytaRailway,88 

Dowries, 291 

Earthquakes, 305 
Education, 175 
- Cost of, 184 

Female, 186 

of priests, 239 

Secondary, 178 

summary, 192 

Technical, 188 
Election, Returns of last, 282 
Elgin Marbles, 222 
Emery, 50 
Emigration, 4 
Employment, 75 

Changes of, 76 
English school at Athens, 221 
Eparchies, 7 

Epiro-Thessalian Bank, Ti 
Estimates for 1893, 159 
Euripos, 94 
Excavation accomplished, 219 

Method ol, 220 
Expenditure, 109 

1892, 121 

Extraordinary, 1 10 



Expenditure, Military, 124 

Naval, 126 
Export duties, 65 
Exports, 64 

Factories, 52 

Families, Chief Athenian, 286 

Fetes, National, 235 

Figs, 27 

Finance, 103 

Municipal, 160 
Fine arts, 210] 
Fish, Ancient and modern names 

of, 55 
Fish, Import and export of, 57 
Fisheries, 53 
Fishing-boats, 53 
Fishing, Mode of, 57 
Fishing-stations, 54 
Flag, 309 
Fleet, 248 

Armament of, 249 
Forest area, 37 

fires, 36 
Forests, 35 

Laws as to, 35 
Fruit, 27 

Game, 19 

General Contract Company, 75 
Credit Bank of Greece, 73 
Gold, Deficiency of, 147 
Goudi Steamship Company, 91 
Grammar-schools, 178 
Greece, How, could be defended, 

251 
Greece superior to Bulgaria, 329 
Greeks in Turkey, 319 
Gymnasia, 178 
Gypsum, 50 

Hellenic Literature Societv, 207 

Steamship Company, 88 

Highways, Administration of, 

139 
Historical and Ethnological 

Society, 208 
Holy Synod, 226 
Honesty, Greek, xvi, 169 
Hospitals, 185, 29s 
Hymenaeal Society, 299 

Import duties, 65 



348 



INDEX 



Imports, 64 

and exports, Lessons of. 

Imports and exports, by Triple 
Alliance and England, 70 

Industrial Credit Bank of 
Greece, 74 

Industries, 48 

Insurance companies, 75 

Ionian Bank, 72 

Jebb, Professor, quoted, 196 
Judges, 161, 164 
Justice, 161 

King George, xiii, 280 
Kopais, 95 
Korinth Canal, 93 

Laboratories, 185 
Ladies' syllogtie, 298 
Land, Products of, 12 

Tenure of, 15 
Laurion, 49 
Law-court?, 161 

Lead, 49 j 

Lenormant, M., quoted, 197 
LifDrary, National, i85 

of Chamber of Deputies, 
209 
Lighthouses, 95 

building, 96 
Loans, 133 
Longevity, 8 
Lunatic asylum, 297 
Lunatics, 296 

Magnesia, 49 

Manganese, 49 

Manslaughter, 169 

Marble, 51 

McDonall and Barbour, Messrs., 

60 
Measures, 100 
Mendicancy, 174 
Mesolonghi-Agrinion Railway, 

84 
Mesolonghi-Krioneri Railway, 

84 
Metsovian Polytechnic, 188 
Military schools, 190 
Mills, 52 
Mill-stone, 50 



Mineral waters, 307 
Mines, 48 

Monarchic democracy, 270 
Monasteries, 227 
Monopolies, 75 

Monopolies of Greece Com- 
pany, 74 
Mountains, 307 
Mulberry, 28 
Murders, 167 
Museums, 185 

Wealth of, 216 
Music, 210 

Napier, Colonel, 82 
National Bank, 72, 155 
Naval schools, 190 
Navigation schools, 189 
Navy, 246 
Newspapers, 202 
Nomarchies, 7 

Odeura, 2IO 

Officers of army, Pay of, 245 

of navy. Pay uf, 251 
Olive-oil, 26 
Olives, 25 
Oranges, 27 
Order of the Saviour, 287 

Public, 161 
Orient Society, 209 
Orphanages, 297 
Orthography, system used, xx 

Painting, 210 

Panhellenic Steamship Com- 
pany, 90 
Panhellenism, -18 
Parliaments, Duration of, 268 
Parnassos Literary Society, 206 
Patriotism, Greek, xiv, 310 
Peiraius-Athens Railway, 84 
Peiraius, Future of, 63 
Peiraius-Larissa Railway, 87 
Peloponnesos Railway, 84 
Philanthropy, 295 
Philharmonic Society, 2ii 
Philhellenes, Duty of, 344 
Physical culture, 212 

Science Society, 208 
Police, 171 

Politeness of Greeks, xv. 
Political combinations, 276 



INDEX 



349 



Political professionalism, 290 

programmes, 277 
Politics, 275 
Poor-house, 298 
Population, i 

Annual increase of, 3 

Nationality of, 9 

Religion of, 8 
Ports, 60 

Postage stamps, 99 
Post-ofSce, 97 
Poultry, 19 
Priests, 232 
Prime Ministers, 269 
Prisons, 171 

Professions, how rated, 79 
Property, Feeling as to, 14 
Provinces, Chief products of, 

33 
Provincial distribution of pro- 
ducts, 32 
Provincial hospitals, 299 

societies, 209 
Public and Communal Works 

Company, 74 
Public companies, 72 
debt, 132 

debt schedule, 140 
Punishment of crime, 168 



Railways, 83 

Fares on, 86 
Rainfall, 304 

Receipts, Extraordinary, 108 
Redemptions, 136 
Religion, 225 
Religious reform, 238 
Reinach's, iVI. S., advice to 

travellers, 316 
Resin, 38 

Retreat for the aged, 298 
Retsinato, 22 
Revenue, 1 883-1 891, 108 
Rivers, 308 
Roads, 80 

Cost of, 82 
Turkish, 81 
Rodd, Mr. Rennell, quoted, 15 
Roman Cathohcs in Greece, 

225 
Ronteres, M. Antonios, quoted, 

162 



Salt, 52 

Saripolos, M., quoted, 310 

Scenery, 311 

Sculpture, 210 

Seamen, 60 

Sergeant, Mr. Lewis, quoted, 

25, 196, 261 
Shipping, 59 

Ships entered and cleared, 61 
Shrubs, 39. 
Sidgwick, Professor, quoted 

329 
Silk, 28 
Silver, 49 
Soap, 53 

Societies, Learned, 206 
Society, 285 

of Friends of Education, 
187 
Stanhope, Colonel Leicester, 

97, 205 
Steamboats, 59, 88 

Accommodation on, 92 
Stock, 18 
Suggestions to England, 341 

Greece, 337 
Sulphur, 50 
Syngros Prison, 172 

Tan, 38 

Teachers' Society, 208 
Telegraphs, 99 
Telephones, 100 
Temperature, 301 
Thessaly Railway, 85 
Thiers, M., quoted, 324 
Thunderstorms, 305 
Timber, Consumption of, 38 
Tobacco, 30 
Tramways, 88 
Travellers, 311 
Travelling, 314 
Trees, 39 

Truthfulness, Greek, xvi 
Turkey, How, could lae attacked, 
255 

University, 180 

faculties, 180 
Institutions subsidiary to, 

185 
programme of lectures, 

183 



35° 



INDEX 



Valonia, 29 
Vegetables, 31 
Villages, 6 

Voting, System of, 281 
Vulkovitch, Dr., 328 

Wallachians, 9 



Weather, Influence of, on crime, 

166 
Weights, 100 
Winds, Prevailing, 303 
Wine, 20 [236 

Wyse, Sir Thomas, quoted, xiii. 
Yachting, 315 



THE END. 



BILLING AND SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD, 

/. D. &- Co. 



ERRATA. 

Pages 1-252, for ' Epiros ' read ' Epeiros ' throughout. 

Page 4, line lz,for ' 135,466' read ' 180,338.' 

Page 27, Hne 2\,for ' Troezenian ' read ' Troizenian. ' 

Page 66, hne it/or ' counties ' read ' countries.' 

Page 85, lines 21-23, /o/- ' Diakophti . . Pyrgos' read ' Diakophti, 

Temeni, Aigion, Patras, Kato-Achaia, Lechaina, Kavasila ; Bartho- 
lomion, Kyllene, Lontra ; Gastuni. Pyrgos ; Katakolon ; Olympia.' 

Page 98, Une 16, af/er 'of 1890' inseri ' to.' 

Page 167, hne 12, and page 202, hne 17, for • Akarnania-Aitolia ' read 
' Aitolia-Akarnania.' 

Page 219, line 16, after 'Argos' insert '(A.).' 

Page 219, line 9, after ' Epidauros ' insert ' (G.).' 

Page 316, line i'i,for ' archeologies ' read ' archeologues. ' 

Page 321, Une 8, before ' Total number of Greeks ' insert ' (1892).'